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125th, okay? Granger will fill you in. And Susan?”
    “I’m still here.”
    “Don’t bring Darcy.”
    “Are you sure? He’s with me now.”
    “Drop him off.”
    “But—why? He’s proven—”
    “Are you listening to me, Susan? Don’t bring Darcy.” He paused a moment. “You’ll understand when you get here.”
    He rang off and I snapped my pocket cell closed. “Looks like I’ve got a case.”
    Darcy’s eyes brightened. “Are we going to catch another crook?”
    I sighed heavily. This wasn’t going to be pretty. “I’m afraid there’s no
we
this time, Darcy. You can’t come.”
    “But—But—” He ran his fingers through his hair. “You said that I was helpful. And—And—that casino man who took the money. No one else knew how tall he was. And the lady who lost her wedding ring—”
    “I know, Darcy. I know. I’m not saying I don’t want you along.” I paused, considered, then atypically opted to just tell the truth. Sort of. “They, uh, say I can’t bring you with me.”
    Darcy lowered his voice to a whisper. “Then we will not tell them.”
    “Sorry, Darcy. I’ll have to drop you off at home.”
    I knew he wasn’t happy about it, but he was too nice to argue, too sweet-hearted to cause me any grief. He threw away his empty custard cup and headed toward my beat-up Chevy.
    “I just hope I can manage,” I said, trying to bolster his spirits. “It’s been a long time since I went out on a job without you by my side. I probably won’t know what to do.”
    “It will go very well. You will be very wonderful,” he said, sliding into the passenger seat. His eyes looked as if they were brimming with tears.
    “And how can you know that?”
    “Because we had custard together today,” he replied, beaming that goofy, beatific smile. “And any day we have custard together is a Very Excellent Day. It’s a rule.”
     
     
    IT TOOK ME four months to stop stuttering and not be nervous and ask Susan to adopt me and then when I did she said no and she laughed at me I mean she did not really laugh at me but her voice did I could hear it because it was just like when I ask my dad if I could be a policeman or when the ladies at the day care watch me change a diaper and why would anyone laugh because no one wants to change a diaper I remember when my mother was alive and she used to—
    Stop. Susan says I have to learn to stop and slow down and focus and put more periods in my thinking and I like Susan so I am going to try. To do. What she says. It is hard when there are so many ideas going on inside my brain all at once I wish I could block some of them out but I cannot they just keep coming and I have a hard time remembering what I am supposed to do because my head is like a computer trying to do too many things at once and then the CPU gets blocked and it crashes and I don’t remember to stop and—
    Reboot. Windows is loading. One thought at a time.
    Being with Susan is always interesting. I like being with Susan but she would not let me be with her today and it is my dad’s fault it is always his fault he never never never wants to let me do anything he does not think I can do anything he just scowls at me and acts all disappointed and I wish I did not look so much like my mother I think it would be better if I did not look so much like my mother because then maybe my dad—
    Stop. Blinking hourglass symbol. One thought at a time.
    I am disappointed that my dad would not let me go. With Susan. Because I love Susan and I want to be with her always. I knew she would never marry me because I am so stupid and weird but I thought that maybe if she adopted me then we could live together and we would not have to be married. I do not care if we do sex because I do not know how and I think it has a lot of touching so I probably would not like it and probably would not be any good at it anyway. I do not care about anything except that I want to be with Susan and I love her. I like babies and babies