After that hard day, Alice wanted to sleep in a bed tonight. But it was getting close to curfew. The only way she would be able to get into a bed and stay there for a full night would be if she was invited to, rather than merely taking one without permission.
Zedadias wasn’t home, so she couldn’t go there. Instead, she went back to Anita’s, and her school friend was happy to invite her back inside. Alice begs Anita to let her stay for the night as well.
But she says no. Anita’s a ‘loner’, and she just doesn’t know Alice well enough to be comfortable with that. Alice looks crestfallen.
Anita goes back inside to watch TV with her family. Alice starts to follow, but then stumbles, closes her eyes for a moment, and drops backwards onto the hard ground.
The sad form lying outside their open front door goes entirely unnoticed.
Next: Shoulder
