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wanted to ask, which was “Why did you want to go out with someone like me?” He was an adult in every way but one. When it came to love, he was still a scared teenage boy. A boy who could never see himself as worthy of love and caring, things he wanted more than anything. Because he’d never liked himself very much, he could not trust that other people did. The only people whose love he had ever trusted were his parents. Keisha. Rabbi. He had trusted Nina once. Never again.
    But Gulliver burned to know. Why had someone so pretty asked him out? Why had a woman who could have any man want him? So when they pulled off the Cross Bronx Expressway onto the streets, he asked the question. He asked in a different way. And it came out all wrong.
    “Are your parents…normal?”
    “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Mia’s voice was angry.
    “No, I mean, physically.”
    “That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
    “It’s just that…” He hesitated.
    “It’s that what?”
    He wanted to say a million things. But he figured anything he said would make it worse. So he said nothing.
    Mia didn’t have that problem. “Listen, Gulliver, we all have shit in our lives. Your height doesn’t make you that special. I’ve been lonely. All the men that come into the office are either married or gay. You’re handsome. You’re the most handsome straight single man that’s come into the office in weeks. And when I saw you with what is the ugliest dog in the world…I don’t know. I just liked you. I can’t explain it better than that. My parents aren’t little people. I don’t take home strays. I asked you to dinner because I like you.”
    “I…” He didn’t know what to say.
    At the next red light, Mia got out of the van. She held the door open and turned to Gulliver. “Tonight’s just not going to work. I like you. And if you ask me out again, I’ll say yes. But you need to do some thinking between now and then.”
    “Please don’t do this. At least let me take you—”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    N ot only didn’t he sleep, he barely shut his eyes. Yes, he was worried about whether Mia had gotten home safely. He had no address for her. No phone number. No way of checking until she was back at work at the clinic. But it was more than that. Her words were still going round and round in his head. Did he think he was special? Was his handsome face the curse he always made it out to be? He had never thought of things quite that way. He couldn’t take it anymore. His head hurt from too much thinking.
    Fifteen minutes later, he and Ugly were back doing a post-midnight walk on Ferris Street. This time, Gulliver had brought an led flashlight with him. It was small but powerful. “Kinda like me,” he said to Ugly. Kinda like Mia . Mia was much on his mind.
    Tonight if a car appeared out of nowhere, he was ready to shoot first and ask questions later. But this wasn’t to be an aimless walk. He knew where they were going. Straight to the empty warehouse that Ellis Torres and Ugly had once called home.
    The warehouse was spooky. The sound his boots made as they scraped along the dirty floor echoed in the emptiness. The flashlight beam cut deep gashes in the darkness. Ugly pulled hard on his leash. This was home. He didn’t need a flashlight to find his way. Gulliver did.
    The makeshift apartment the kid had set up for himself and his dog looked different under the harsh light of the beam. But really, nothing had changed. Everything seemed to be as it had been. The mattress. The coolers. The— Bang! Gulliver bumped into something. The ladder. There was something about the ladder. What was it? He struggled to remember. He stepped back and shone the flashlight on it and the photos scattered around its base. He’d thought the kid used it for shelving. But there were dusty, kid-sized footprints on the rungs of the ladder. Footprints that went all the way to the top.
    Gulliver let go of Ugly’s leash. He checked the ladder