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pony, a touch of Cinnamon lipstick. Mum’s colour – went with everything, she said, sad days and happy. The woman at the drugstore warned Mum that the cosmetics company had discontinued it, and Mum bought every last stick. Went with everything, but not her; she left them all behind. Even so, Abi doesn’t wear it that often.
    They’re at the door when Jude – JUDE , she shouts inside – says, “Are you just leaving the TV on?”
    So he hasn’t seen Dad yet.
    â€œIt’s always on.” They slip out.
    â€œAnd I already know you don’t lock the door,” he says.
    â€œNothing to steal.”
    â€œYou should lock it when you’re home,” he says.
    She likes how he says that. Makes her warm. Could be early January instead of July and she still wouldn’t need a coat,the way he says that. He opens the passenger door of the old blue pickup truck and closes it after her.
    â€œWhere’s your son?” she asks suddenly, surprising herself. Didn’t know the kid was bubbling near the top of her brain like that.
    â€œHe’s with his grandma,” he says easily as he pulls the pickup into the roadway.
    Again she feels a stab of self-consciousness. She thinks of what it takes to make a baby. “Been there, done that,” he could say. Evan kissed her once – a guy at school, the only guy who’s ever offered her a ride home. She’s wondered since if the ride and the kiss wasn’t some sort of dare. Almost seventeen, and never really been kissed. She suspects that this is something she’s supposed to worry about. That’s probably what it says in those magazines that other girls read.
    Jude is staring at her. “Hallo?!” he says, waving a hand in front of her face. “Earth to…whoever you are…” He laughs. “Who are you?”
    â€œAba.”
    â€œLike the old pop group?”
    She shakes her head. “One B. Just Abi will do.”
    â€œWhat do you mean ‘
Just
Abi
will do
’?”
    He stops the truck at a light and looks at her. The stop-light could turn green, but he’s not going anywhere. She doesn’t like this light-headed feeling: as if she might do somethingshe would never do with her head clear and her feet on the ground. It suddenly seems to her that her head has always been very clear and that the ground has been
very
under her feet. “Know where you are, what you are doing, what you want,” Mum always said. Clear and grounded. Until now.
    The car behind them honks, and Jude – JUDE  – moves forward. She breathes as he looks away. No, she doesn’t like this at all.
    For some reason she sees Dad in his chair. Is this how he felt about Mum? Is it possible Mum ever felt this about him? It’s not possible, is it? If it was, they wouldn’t be where they are now. You can’t feel
this
, and become
that.
    The sun is setting as they reach the crest of the hill. The tall trees to the south of the border make it seem even darker, the lineup of tail lights shines warm colours.
    â€œThe fireworks are at Lighthouse Park,” Jude says. “Do you come down here at all?”
    She shakes her head. “Haven’t been for a long time.”
Don’t go anywhere anymore
.
    Then it’s their turn; the guard stares at her. “ID?” he says.
    Jude nudges her. “He’s asking for your identification.”
    â€œOh.” She pulls the school card from her bag.
    Even though there is a line of vehicles behind them, the guard scrutinizes the card, looking between Abi and her photo several times.
    â€œFireworks?” he asks.
    â€œYes sir,” says Jude. “We’ll be heading back when they’re over.”
    â€œDrinking age is twenty-one down here. You know that.” The guard looks so serious. Abi wonders if he has kids of his own. He makes eye contact, like a grade school teacher. She bets