Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling by Elise Bryant

Author:Elise Bryant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

Juneteenth

Reggie

“And as issues like this continue to persist unchecked, it’s no wonder that more and more BIPOC players turn to indie RPG offerings where they don’t have to wonder if they’re wanted—”

A knock at the door interrupts my train of thought, and I know right away it’s my dad. My mom always sticks her head in uninvited when she’s checking on me (which is way too often), and Eric has no interest in entering my room.

I pull an AirPod out of my ear. “Uh, yeah?”

Dad opens the door halfway and takes a tentative step in. “Just wanted to let you know that we’re probably going to head out soon.” His face cracks into a smile, and he gestures toward the front of the house. “Well, soon as in: your mom is doing her last check of everything packed in the car. But you know that means there’s probably going to be at least one more recheck.”

“So like, ten minutes?”

“Yeah, give or take a few more ‘just in case’ additions.” He shakes his head. “I was trying to move things along, but she wasn’t having any of that.”

As if on cue, my mom’s high voice carries in from the other room. “Winston, have you seen the extra cooler? I want to bring some more water bottles and ice just in case.”

Dad holds his finger up and smirks, like See? and we both crack up, our identical laughs blending together.

“Well, I better get to it. Even though we’re about to have enough water to send everyone at the barbecue home with a lifetime supply.” He backs up toward the door. “Didn’t mean to interrupt. Sounded like you were, uh, talking to somebody . . .”

I definitely can’t tell him that the only “somebodies” I’m talking to are the D&D fans on the internet who might eventually read this essay I was in the middle of writing. I’m not trying to deal with the squinty-eyed stare that would earn.

“I was just getting some thoughts down,” I say, hoping he won’t ask any follow-up questions. I hold up my phone quickly, flashing him the screen. “You know that transcribing app that I use? It’s faster for me, so I don’t forget what I want to say.”

He nods, crossing his arms over the grass-green polo he’s wearing. “Oh yeah, that’s what Ms. Thompson brought up back at your IEP meeting. I guess I’ve just never realized that you use it outside of school, too. That and the other one. The text-to . . . to—”

“Text-to-speech,” I finish for him.

He snaps and then points at me. “Yeah, that’s right. Text-to-speech. She was saying you should try not using them? To practice, right? You, uh . . . think you want to try that?”

Whatever face I make must give away how I feel about that suggestion. “After the summer, I mean,” he corrects. “When your senior year starts.”

I sigh. Do I want to get into all this right now? I know I’m not about to phase out anything—knew it as soon as Ms.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.