Fifty-Three
Memory 25
I tell them how Viggo arrived at my party, at nine, when the party started at seven. He gave me no apology, and told me straight up that he could only stay half an hour. He had “other commitments” that night.
I tell them how he didn’t bring me a card, or a present. I tell them how he wasn’t in costume, even though it was meant to be a pirate party.
I tell them how, when my dad came to shake his hand (something I now know would have been a strain for him, considering how much he hated Viggo), Viggo rolled his eyes and shook it as if he was under extreme duress.
I tell them how he refused to play the party games Jed organised, calling them juvenile.
How he kept checking his watch.
How he asked me to turn the music down.
How he told me—three times—that he’d have
