“A game?”
“Yes’um. The question game. You ask me a question, I ask you a question. And you gotta answer it honestly. I’ll do the same. Sound fun?”
“I guess.”
“You get the first question then, Miss Violet.”
“Mmmmm…” A million questions that had been lingering for the past week suddenly fled her tired brain. She stared out into the clear heavens, blank. Finally, one came. “Where’re you from?”
“Lawrence, Alabama,” Linus answered.
“So far away? When’d you leave?”
Linus grinned. “I believe it’s my question next.” Violet pouted, but didn’t protest. “How old are you?”
“Turned twenty last fall,” said Violet, a little proudly. “It was a big to-do. We invited the whole damn town; they barely fit in our house!” The memory of Violet’s birthday left her with a warm sensation in her stomach. She
