All the Major Constellations Read Online Free PDF Page A

hopped into his car and buckled up.
    â€œSara’s still messing with her clothes,” she said.
    Andrew shifted gears and pulled out of the driveway. He wondered if, on the way to the movies, he could get a glimpse of Laura. She would be heading to some sort of church event, even on a Friday night. Andrew thought it must be miserable to be at church all the time, but Laura and her friends always seemed happy.
    The movie theater wasn’t in the direction of the church, but he could take Maple Lane to Autumn Road, then loop around Hunger Street . . . yes, that would work. The circuitous route would eventually bring them to the theater. He turned the car sharply.
    â€œWhere are you going?” Marcia asked.
    â€œShortcut,” Andrew said. He was glad that Sara hadn’t come with them. Unlike Marcia, Sara would have known that he wasn’t taking a shortcut and would have teased him about it. Thoughts of confession were now far away.
    They drove in comfortable silence for a few minutes, thespecial trick of their old friendship. Despite Sara’s beauty and flirty charm, Andrew actually preferred being alone with Marcia. He often felt calm and strong when he was with her. Marcia was a small person, five feet tall and thin; she almost looked like a child. Something about Marcia’s size, her fatherlessness, and even her precocious intelligence made Andrew feel like an older brother to her. He tried to treat her like the loving and protective brother that Brian had never been to him, and her own brothers had never been to her. Other times he idly fantasized about her, or Sara for that matter, and it satisfied him more than porn.
    Andrew and Marcia had become friends when they were in the sixth grade. He had seen Marcia around at school. She was new to town. She had been born in Korea but was white, a paradox that intrigued and repelled some of his classmates. “That’s just weird!” had been the common refrain.
    When she was young, Marcia had had a subtle but strange global accent, having attended an English language school for the children of diplomats, politicians, and other international types. Her accent was gone, but her speech, especially at times of great emotion, was still peppered with the occasional “Bollocks!” or “Shiza!” or “When I go to University—I mean
college
.”
    Marcia’s father had been a military doctor stationed in Korea. While volunteering at a free clinic, he was brutally murdered by an insane patient. Marcia’s family moved back to the States shortly after the tragedy.
    People were kind to them but left them alone. Marcia’sbrothers were older than she was and very close in age to each other, sixteen and seventeen when they moved to town. The brothers had passed imperceptibly through high school, quietly scoring the highest marks in everything and then vanishing into college. They had attended the same state university on modest academic scholarships. Neither studied medicine.
    He slowed down as they drove past Laura’s church. A large placard on the lawn read ALL ANSWERS HERE! About a dozen cars were parked in the lot. He thought he saw a flicker of long amber hair out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head, it was gone. He silently cursed.
    â€œSometimes I wish I were religious,” Marcia said.
    â€œOh?”
    â€œI kind of envy people who have that.”
    â€œAll the answers?” Andrew said.
    Marcia laughed. “Yes, that. But also . . . peace, calm, certainty in the face of a storm.”
    â€œBut religion has caused a lot of conflict and oppression, even warfare. Maybe religion
is
the storm.”
    â€œThat’s true.”
    â€œI don’t know. I’d never really thought about it,” Andrew said.
    â€œNo?”
    â€œI mean, I figure we’re all going to die someday, and it’ll be just like before we were