OKAY, I’M GOING to fast forward over the next week because it was another of those times when not much happened … except for the one weird thing I’m going to tell you about later.

I went to school every day, worked my shifts at Gudonya, did some drawings for Dingbat Wall, ate and slept and walked Junior, and generally did all the million and one boring things everyone does every day. Y’know, the usual stuff. I also practiced like crazy every night with The People. We were getting better and I was finding out that doing stuff with a bunch of other people felt different. Like good different, if you know what I mean.

We were a team.

That one weird thing that happened was something I’m not real proud of, but I’m going to have to mention it anyway. When I’m telling a story, I have to tell the whole story, right?

This one weird thing happened one night in Gudonya. Sid had been busy on his laptop, getting things ready for the yoga festival, which was coming up in three weeks’ time. He’d been on KRMY a bunch of times, talking up the event, and must’ve tapped into some massive yoga shortage around Hills Village because tickets were selling fast. Around seven, Sid asked me to lock up the place once the last customer had gone. This was something he’d been doing more and more, but I didn’t mind.

Anyway, when I was shutting up shop, I noticed Sid had forgotten his laptop. Hills Village isn’t exactly America’s Crime Capital, but I still thought I’d better put it somewhere safe. Then, as I was closing the lid, a ping signaled an incoming email. Now, I’m not someone who would ever open up someone else’s email, but I couldn’t help reading the little notification bubble that popped up on the screen. It was an email from an airline confirming Sid’s flight to Miami. I only glanced at it, I swear. I closed the laptop and locked it away in a closet under the coffee counter.

It wasn’t until I got home that I realized why Sid’s emailed flight notification was bugging me. After all, there was nothing wrong with Sid taking a flight to Miami. Plenty of people fly to Miami. I’ve heard it’s a great place. No, what was bugging me was the date of the flight. It was the day before the Hills Village Yoga Festival. Which gave me some thinking to do. As a rule, I try to avoid thinking too much—I don’t want to strain my brain if I can possibly help it—but Sid booking a one-way ticket to Miami on the day of the yoga festival smelled fishy.

The question was, what was I supposed to do with that information?