Free Orfe by Cynthia Voigt Page B

difference would it make to learn the worst right now? he asked. “A boyfriend?”
    â€œNo. I guess Enny won’t mind about her sweater if I tell her why.”
    â€œWell. What will you tell her?”
    â€œI’ll tell her you liked my singing, my songs. She likes them too. She always did. Always—”
    But he was gone by then, out the door and onto the street, the sweater in his hands, sweat oozing down the back of his neck, down the inside of his thighs. Orfe didn’t try to follow him. She didn’t know if she’d ever see him, or my sweater, again.
    *  *  *  *  *
    Yuri never talked about his time in detox and rehab.
    *  *  *  *  *
    When the steel door closed behind Yuri, and he stood on the sidewalk under a gritty gray sky, he had a couple of addresses in his pocket for places to go next, where he could find a room with people who knew what he’d already faced and what he faced next; and who mightbe able to steer him to a job he could do well enough to keep it. He felt shaky, he said, and he thought he probably looked shaky too. Except not as shaky as he had weeks ago when he went in through that same steel door.
    The first thing he did was go back to the Atomic Café. Jack and the Jackets were no longer playing there, so he went to the house. He wouldn’t go inside, although he thought he could have and been all right. He didn’t go inside because he didn’t want to risk it, not in the smallest way. He said he knew it was the risk of being lost, entirely, and lost forever.
    So he stayed on the stoop even though it was drizzling rain and he didn’t have a hat. Smiley stayed under cover in the open door, propped up against the door frame, his hands moving constantly to pockets, chest, behind him, his fingers playing against the wooden frame, not really looking at Yuri. “We’ve got some good stuff in here. You’re looking cool, man. C’mon in, don’t be a stranger.”
    â€œWhere are you playing now?” At the expression on Smiley’s face he specified, “Jack and the Jackets, if I want to hear you, where do I go these days? Orfe,” he said.
    â€œAt the Ivry Gate sometimes,” Smileysaid. His left hand played along the edges of his T-shirt. “When there’s no one they like better they can get.”
    Yuri nodded. “Thanks, man.”
    â€œBut I’m not playing with Jack anymore.”
    â€œWho’re you playing with?”
    â€œI’m looking for a new group. I heard of someone, I’ve got to check it out, it’ll be cool, I think. Lotsa money. Lotsa good stuff.”
    Yuri nodded. “Luck, man.” But Smiley needed, he said, more than luck; it would take a miracle now, for Smiley. Behind Smiley, the house sat waiting like a death trap, its mouth open, to eat you alive.
    â€œOrfe neither,” Smiley said. His right hand flew up to his face. “I thought you’d pay attention to that. She quit, Jack chewed nails for a while, it pissed me off too. I don’t know where she is; she hangs out with that friend of hers.”
    â€œWhat friend?” Yuri didn’t know anything about Orfe.
    â€œThe college kid. They’re trying to get a band together, I heard, but she didn’t look like she knew anything about music. The college kid. Orfe’s got some funny friends, if you ask me. I dunno, Yuri, it doesn’t seem like she treated the rest of us right; does it seem that way to you?”
    Yuri shrugged. He wouldn’t want to work with Smiley. But Smiley was so far gone it wouldn’t do him any good to be told that. And if he’d been reasonably clean, it would just break his heart. The truth wasn’t exactly good news. The truth wasn’t exactly the kind of thing that made you sit up and start singing. Yuri didn’t want to waste his breath on Smiley, and he didn’t want to hurt Smiley, so he