The next day Reg drove them to a park in town. He made them run laps while he shouted math questions at them. It wasn’t hard, and it felt good to be outside. Reg had brought a box of fried pickles and sat on a shaded picnic bench eating them, so he was pretty much in heaven. Trevor found a garter snake, picked it up on a stick, and pestered Eddie with it. All in all, an enjoyable day.
Before he dismissed them, Reg gave them an assignment.
“Tomorrow we start working on teamwork. You have to learn to trust each other.”
“We’re not doing trust falls, right?” Brad said. Reg snorted.
“You will each have to lead a blindfolded teammate through a maze. You can neither talk to them nor touch them.”
“Uh,” Trevor said. “How do we lead them through the maze, then?”
“That’s your problem,” Reg said. “You can bring props. Be prepared to lead any of the other three.”
He grinned at them. “By the way, you have to find a way to let the person know they’re the one you’re leading.”
“What do you mean?” Eddie said, frowning.
“I’ll blindfold the other three. You have to get the right one to follow you.” He turned to walk back to the car, clearly pleased with himself.
When Reg pulled the IA car to a stop at the guard booth and flashed his badge, the guard peered in. “These the trainees?”
“Yeah, that’s them,” Reg said.
“Their parents are here.”
Rosa sat up straighter.
“They’re getting the tour.”
Reg and the trainees caught up with the parents in the IA administration lobby. Rosa’s parents were standing with two other couples and Friesta Bauer. Her father was impeccable in a suit, and her mother was impeccable in black dress pants and a red blouse. One of the other couples was in khakis and matching polo shirts.
“Let me guess,” Rosa whispered to Trevor. “Those are your parents, right?” He nodded. “They dress alike? That’s kind of cute.” He rolled his eyes.
Brad’s parents stepped forward. His dad shook his hand, and a woman in a short gold dress—way too young to be his mother—air-kissed him on both cheeks. Rosa flared her eyes at Trevor, but then her dad grinned at her and she forgot the other parents. Rosa’s mom threw her arms out and took a couple of steps as though to run at her, then thought better of it and waited till Rosa walked into her arms. She gave Rosa a hug that smelled like an expensive department store, then pulled back to look at her, holding Rosa’s upper arms.
“We are so proud of you,” she said, smoothing a stray strand of Rosa’s hair. Her dad gave her a bear hug and then did a handshake they invented when she was ten that included a lot of finger action and ended by tapping elbows. She could have killed him, except she was grinning too much.
“Doctors Hayashi, Doctors Clayborn, and Mr. and Mrs. Quatro,” Friesta Bauer said, “why don’t you go ahead and unload your cars? Then our IA director would like to invite you to dine with him at a local restaurant this evening.”
“Sounds good,” Trevor’s dad said.
Rosa hadn’t even thought of Eddie till she turned. He was standing halfway across the room, fists thrust in his pockets.
“Eddie,” she called. “Come meet my parents.” But they all walked over to him and there were introductions all around. “Your parents couldn’t make it today?” her dad asked.
“No, sir,” Eddie said. “My old man has a hard time getting away.”
“I can understand that,” Dr. Hayashi said.
They all walked back to the apartment building together, and mostly the parents talked, since they weren’t allowed to discuss the testing. But Rosa’s dad asked in a whisper if she’d acquitted herself well, and when she said she thought she had, he squeezed her shoulder.
When they got to the cars Brad’s stepmother sat on the retaining wall. Her heels were too high to let her carry luggage. “No porters?” his dad said, looking around. Eddie headed for the building, but Brad’s dad called out to him.
“Excuse me, uh, young man?” He’s already forgotten my name, Eddie thought. “Any chance you could give us a hand here?”
Eddie stood for a second, then came back, and Brad’s dad handed him a big box, and by the time Brad got to his room, Eddie had already set it down and gone back out for another load.
“Seems like a nice boy,” Mrs. Dr. Hayashi said as she and Rosa carted a trunk up to the second floor.
Rosa wanted to tell them how anguished he was. Everybody looked at Eddie as though he was dangerous, but he seemed more vulnerable than anyone she knew. She wanted to explain what it felt like to see him hold a houseplant like it was his only friend. That after those goons attacked her, he sat on her floor in his boxers and told her terrible knock-knock jokes. She wanted to say that she was worried about him because he thought with his spine and because his parents weren’t there. But she didn’t know how.
Rosa had gotten mostly unpacked, and her mom had helped her put up pretty toile curtains when Trevor’s mom poked her head around the corner.
“We’re going to caravan to the restaurant,” she said.
“You can finish unpacking tonight,” Rosa’s dad said, ushering them to the door. “And tomorrow, and the next day …”
“Ha-ha,” she said. “Such a funny man.”
The restaurant was a nice place. Eddie was the only person in jeans, but no one said anything. Director Smithson talked about their futures, then compared notes with Rosa’s dad about running a big agency and listened to Brad’s dad talk about real estate. Rosa’s mother ordered French food and then complained about it, which was both embarrassing and predictable. Trevor and Eddie talked basketball with Trevor’s dad, and Rosa’s mom chatted with his mom. Brad’s stepmother rearranged the food on her plate. When the check came, Director Smithson put his credit card in the leather envelope the server left.
“I’ve got that,” Brad’s father said expansively, tossing a credit card on top of Smithson’s. He winked at his wife and gave her leg a squeeze.
“Thanks, but IA has this,” Smithson said, handing the card back to him.
“Oh, come on!” Mr. Quatro said. “I can buy and sell all of you a dozen times over.”
“Actually you can’t,” Rosa’s mother said. “That would violate the Thirteenth Amendment.”
Mr. Quatro started to laugh, then realized she was serious. He waved his fingers in the air, but he took his credit card back.
Rosa said good-bye to her parents outside the apartment building. She hadn’t really been lonely until they came to visit—she started missing them when she saw them again. That seemed messed up. She watched them until their taillights were past the guard booth. She felt very adult, and very alone.