Noon came and went, and Beau was beginning to wonder if there was a*****e in the mall they hadn’t gone into, excluding those for women’s clothing. Rick had looked at shoes and clothes. He’d spent an hour in the electronics store, gazing wistfully at gaming systems he said he knew Beau couldn’t afford to get him. When Beau told him to choose one, anyway, Rick had refused. Another half hour was spent in a book store. This time, Rick did get something—the first two volumes of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series of graphic novels.
“And don’t say anything,” Rick said when Beau lifted an eyebrow. “These are for adults, not kids.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Beau replied, before telling him they were going back to the one clothing store where Rick had been looking at T-shirts. Rick walked out of there w
