Minos. Burt Weissbourd

made her mad. She rolled her eyes and started chanting whenever he asked a question about those things. Or she’d ignore his question and race back into the past.

      And she was right—he was hurting, not helping, that is to say slowing her down, wasting her valuable energy. She was explaining things to him, over and over, and even after her explanations, he plainly didn’t understand. Okay, this was a problem he had to engage, even if he couldn’t solve it. He stared at his cherry leather chair, confounded.

      He’d see her again tomorrow. Maybe there was a way to talk about Theseus. Abe wanted to pick up a book on Greek mythology, see what he could learn about Theseus, the king. At least he’d see if he could listen to her in a way that was helpful. He stood, frowning, still perplexed, as he gathered his things, putting them in his worn, brown-leather briefcase. He was off to talk with Owen Sentor, Olympic’s high school counselor and acting dean, to see what he wasn’t listening to.

      ***

      After any given school day, the table against the far wall at the Blue City Café was the first stop for Billy and his friends. Today, Randy, Alex, and Amy were hanging out, waiting for Billy to come from an after school spring soccer meeting. Randy was showing off the pictures he’d taken, then printed from his computer. When he saw that his friends were only interested in how they looked, he stashed them in his backpack.

      Randy saw her first and waved her over. Sara was dressed in black, walking very slowly, talking to herself. She carried her bulging canvas shoulder bag. Sara fingered a spike on her collar as she made her way to their table.

      “Hey, Sara,” Randy greeted her as she sat down. “What’s up?”