He is careful to position himself a safe enough distance away from the road so that the children don’t look at him too closely. From where he’s standing, maybe one hundred feet away from the driveway’s edge where the school bus is coming to a safe stop — its bright red and yellow safety lights flashing, a red octagonal STOP sign mounted to the vehicle’s side automatically opening up like a flower in the sun via mechanical arm — the two little children will see Robyn. They won’t suspect that anything is wrong with her, or that she’s not the same woman she was when they left the house this morning. She will simply be the Robyn Painter they have always known their entire young lives. The Robyn little Molly knows as Mommy, and that Mike Jr. knows at Aunt Batman and Robyn.
Skinner inhales. Bre
