They packed a picnic lunch, but it was hot and they couldn’t be bothered to walk all the way over to Balboa Park, so they settled for the nearest bus stop instead. They snapped off the tabs on their diet cream sodas and each swallowed one diet pill pilfered from Mrs. Green’s stash. They threw away the ham sandwiches and all but four of the orange slices Mrs. Green had packed for them, but devoured the packet of Twinkies she’d sent along for them to share, and then complained to one another of wretched hunger and light-headedness all day long.
They sat on the bus stop bench, relishing the shade of the bus shelter as cars and buses moved along the avenue.
“I told my mom the most ridiculous, convoluted lie!” Ryan snorted. “I said we were going over to San Diego to pick up one of Crazy Marga
