The Best American Short Stories 2011 by Geraldine Brooks

Author:Geraldine Brooks
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780547242088
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2011-12-21T06:14:35+00:00

My broken wrist takes a long time to heal. I stay clear of the Varelli house, and at school only Eric signs my cast. He puts his initials on it, as though his full name would announce too heavy an association. The deal is that I don't have to get a job until the cast comes off.

I join the afterschool club, roll a ranger called Valium the Second, but nobody thinks it's funny. Why would they? Lucy Mantooth plays a wizard-thief. It's clear that she doesn't want me in the club.

Eric lives near me, and sometimes we walk part of the way home together. He likes to cut through some trees on a path near the Varellis' house, and I don't say anything. One day we see the Dungeon Master's Corvette in the driveway. His father bought it for him last year, but the Dungeon Master has never driven it. He doesn't even have a license.

"You like our game so far?" Eric asks.

"It's cool."

It is cool, despite the death stares from Lucy Mantooth. We fly dragons, battle giants, build castles, raise armies and families and crops. But something is missing. No goblin child will shank you for your coin pouch. You'll never die from a bad potato.

"I think Lucy likes you," Eric says.

"What's the giveaway? The fact that she never talks to me or that she rolls her eyes whenever I say anything?"

"Both."

"I guess I don't know much about girls."

"You'll learn," Eric says. "You've been hanging out with those weirdos."

"Everything's weird if you stare at it," I say.

"I don't know about that," Eric says. "We're sponsored by the school, just like the chess team."

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