proud.”
Until that moment, I hadn’t pictured Helen as someone with parents. In my mythology, she was not a normal human infant birthed on this Earth. No, Helen had emerged as a fully formed monster from the fires of Hades, a malevolent, vengeful hell-beast forged in the underworld’s furnace to make my last summer in Pineville as miserable as possible.
When, in fact, she was just a girl who was hurting inside.
Helen had demons. She wasn’t a demon.
“I shouldn’t have broken up with you,” Sonny said, pulling Helen closer. “I should’ve known something deeply fucked up was going on with you to hook up with Cookie Boy.” He turned to me. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I insisted. “There’s something deeply fucked up with me too. Unfortunately, I don’t have an official diagnosis to treat it.”
I was about to leave this loved-up couple alone when Helen lifted her head from Sonny’s chest and gestured toward the Double Dragon machine.
“Wanna play a round?”
“Oh, I’m really, really bad at arcade games,” I said.
“So what?” Helen asked. “Do you always have to be the best at everything all the time?”
I’d spent seventeen years trying to be the best at everything all the time. And I had only succeeded at being the worst in all the ways that truly mattered:
as a daughter,
as a friend,
as a decent human being.
“It’s on me,” Sonny said, squeezing two quarters out of the coin holster around his waist.
“I’m just going to die right away,” I said.
“I swear I won’t let you die right away.” Helen held up two fingers like a Girl Scout. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
She got me on that one.
I clutched the joystick, hoping there was some truth to the word. As it turned out, one hour in arcade time was equivalent to five minutes in the outside world. I would’ve sworn in Mock Court that I’d played that video game with Helen for a fraction of the time I actually did. Double Dragon, as Helen had explained, wasn’t just a beat-’em-up game, it had a compelling story that set it apart.
“It’s a classic tale of family and friendship and love and loyalty and betrayal and brotherhood,” she said. “You know, all the most important shit in life.”
Helen and I were twin martial artists—Billy and Jimmy aka Hammer and Spike—trying to rescue my girlfriend, Marian, who was kidnapped by a rival gang. Locations varied—city slum, factory, forest, secret hideout—but our mission never did. Helen’s expert advice?
“Just kick ass!”
We’d made it through level three and were moving on to the next when Helen grumbled about having to leave the mall to start her shift on the boardwalk.
“It’s almost six o’clock!” The numbers on my watch shocked me. “How did that happen?”
“There are no clocks in the arcade for a reason.”
I told Helen to thank Sonny for the—ahem—fun time.
“You make a great couple,” I said.
“Thank you,” said Helen. “We do.”
And then I found myself hugging the girl who had once tried to assassinate me.
46
CHEST
I was a half hour late for the next item on my to-do list. I ran through the Concourses to make up for lost time and was breathless when I got to Wood World.
“Sylvester!” I was panting. “I’m here!”
“Hi, there, Cassie,” he replied merrily as ever.
I rested on the counter to catch my breath. His flannel shirt was the same pattern as Sonny Sexton’s—a blue-and-black buffalo plaid—though Sylvester’s was faded and nubby. Flannel was showing up all over the place lately and it wasn’t even fall yet.
“You’re a trendsetter in that shirt, you know,” I said.
“I’ve owned this shirt for twenty years.” Sylvester ho-ho-hoed. “Live long enough and everything old is new again.”
That philosophy was at the core of his success, and what kept him in business all these years. By staying true to himself, Sylvester made Wood World transcend trends. Of course, it helped that he understood exactly who he was. I hadn’t reached that level of self-actualization. I was closer than I was a few months ago, but hadn’t arrived there yet.
“I was starting to worry I wouldn’t see you tonight,” he said.
“I might not have the best reputation these days, but there’s no way I would stiff you like that,” I replied. “Especially since this was kind of a rush job on such short notice.”
“Pshaw! Wasn’t anything to it. I love doing custom work. It’s what I live for!”
Even if the recipient didn’t appreciate this gift, I could at least feel good about bringing happiness to Sylvester.
“You ready to see it?”
“Yes!”
Sylvester laughed deep in