If I was really going to do this, I needed to hurry. But every time I neared the video store that was just down the street from Heartland Cemetery, dread spiked my heartbeat and froze my legs. I had to swerve my bike into parked cars so I wouldn't topple over. And that was just from seeing the video store.
The thought of visiting Mom again inched me closer, though. I could see her smiling face inside the picture of her gravestone, talk to her, ask her questions, and while she may not be able to answer me except with a white card, I knew she would be listening. She might as well be hugging me for all the comfort that offered.
That, and the relentless creep of the sun and the eternal eight o'clock school bell urged me forward.
I drifted past the video store. The empty flagpoles that li
