Beverly was walking out of Zoom City when Mrs. Deely materialized out of nowhere and grabbed hold of her arm.

“I have good news for you,” said Mrs. Deely.

“Great,” said Beverly.

“I’ve produced a new installment, and I would like to share it with you.” Mrs. Deely was wearing the same duck-covered skirt she had on the day before, but today, there were three pencils shoved in the mountain of her hair, instead of just one.

“I’ve been called to draw the truth,” said Mrs. Deely.

“Yeah,” said Beverly. “You told me.”

Mrs. Deely handed Beverly a piece of paper. Beverly looked down at it and saw more snakes. And some lightning. And a lot of stick people dancing in the middle of a fire.

“Go on, take it,” said Mrs. Deely. “It’s for you. I must continue on. There are more people, young people, in need of the truth. It’s best to learn the truth when you are young.”

Mrs. Deely walked toward a kid who had just climbed on the horse.

“Halllloooooo,” Mrs. Deely called.

The kid was maybe four years old. His hair was shaved close to his head, and his mother was standing next to him. His mother said, “Isn’t this fun, Johnny? Isn’t this the most fun you have ever had?”

Beverly hated it when people told you how much fun you were having.

The horse started moving up and down in a resigned way.

“Isn’t it fun, Johnny?” said his mother.

The kid nodded. He didn’t seem all that convinced.

“I have the truth for you, Johnny,” said Mrs. Deely, walking over to the kid and holding out a paper.

Johnny looked at Mrs. Deely.

“Who are you?” said Johnny’s mother.

“I am the messenger,” said Mrs. Deely.

The door to Zoom City opened. Elmer stuck his head out. “Mrs. Deely!” he shouted. “Do not give him that paper!”

“But it’s the truth,” said Mrs. Deely. “And I am called upon to deliver it. I must deliver it.”

“Give it to me,” said Beverly.

“But you already have one,” said Mrs. Deely.

“I’ll give this one to a friend,” said Beverly.

“Really?” said Mrs. Deely. She smiled a radiant smile. “Thank you. Please do share it. That would be so wonderful.” She put out her hand and patted Johnny on the head.

“Stop that,” said the mother.

“Good-bye, Mrs. Deely,” said Elmer in a loud voice. “Thank you very much.”

He looked at Beverly.

She held herself very still.

“Fine,” he said. “You win.”

“Great,” she said.

“I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“I’ll be here,” said Beverly. She folded up Mrs. Deely’s two pieces of paper and shoved them in her back pocket along with Mr. Denby’s happy family photo.

And then she stood and watched Johnny ride the horse.

He held on to the plastic reins and stared back at her.

“It’s so fun, Johnny,” said the mother. “Right?”

Right, thought Beverly.

Elmer came out of Zoom City with his book bag slung over his shoulder. “See what I’m talking about with Mrs. Deely?” he said. “What if the kid could read? It would scare the crap out of him.”

“That horse drives me crazy,” said Beverly.

“The horse makes kids happy, mostly,” said Elmer. “It’s Mrs. Deely who drives me crazy.”

They walked past the phone booth. It was glittering — shining in the hot sun. They both looked over at it at the same time.

“In a crooked little house,” said Elmer.

“By a crooked little sea,” said Beverly. She smiled a gigantic smile.

“What did you do to your tooth?” said Elmer.

“What?” said Beverly.

“Your front tooth is chipped.”

Beverly shrugged. “I was a kid.”

“And?”

“And I was running away from one of my mother’s boyfriends.”

Elmer nodded slowly. “Why?”

“Because he was chasing me.”

“Uh-huh,” said Elmer. “Why was he chasing you?”

“Because I had his wallet,” said Beverly.

“Oh,” said Elmer. “Right. Of course you did.”

The sun was beating down on them.

“I took his wallet, and he figured out that it was me who took it, and he chased me down the street yelling, ‘You worthless brat! Give me back my wallet!’ He was in his underwear, which made it pretty funny. And I was running as fast as I could, and then I tripped and fell on my face and chipped my tooth. After that, my mother stopped dating him. Or more like he stopped dating my mother. Because I was such a worthless little brat.”

“That stinks,” said Elmer.

“Right, well. I don’t care. I didn’t care.”

The cars roaring past them sounded like the ocean, or the ocean sounded like the cars. It was hard to tell the difference. A plane flew overhead trailing a banner that said EVERY HOUR IS HAPPY HOUR.

They both looked up.

“I will be so glad to get out of this place,” said Elmer.

“Yeah,” said Beverly. “Right. New Hampshire.”

“New Hampshire,” said Elmer.

“To get away from Jerome?”

“No,” said Elmer. “There are Jeromes everywhere you go. You can never get away from the Jeromes of the world.”

“Why didn’t you fight him? Why didn’t you fight back?”

Elmer shrugged.

“I would have beat the crap out of him,” said Beverly. “I’m thinking about beating the crap out of him right now.”

“Not everyone is you,” said Elmer. He moved his book bag to his other shoulder. “Not everyone eats glue and steals wallets.”

Beverly laughed. “This is it,” she said. She pointed at the trailer park sign. “We’re at the Seahorse Court.”

She led Elmer down the white driveway to the little pink trailer.