Today Tonight Tomorrow

Outside the theater, everyone splits off in different directions, some in clusters, some alone. The list of clues is daunting. A handful of them are obvious, but I’m stumped on at least a couple.

Kirby, Mara, and I linger at Cinerama’s Lenora Street entrance. Now that we’re alone again, the car conversation feels like a physical barrier between us.

“Our five minutes are almost up,” I say, staring at my phone before sliding it back into my dress pocket.

“Right.” Kirby toes a dent in the sidewalk with her sandal. “And any one of us could have the other.”

I do a quick mental calculation. “There’s a two percent chance.”

“No math. School’s over,” Kirby says with a groan. “I’d tell you if I had you.”

“Really? Because I wouldn’t.” Mara tucks a strand of blond hair behind one ear, smiling innocently

“Oh my God, I don’t trust either of you!” Kirby says when I don’t volunteer my target either.

There’s a stiltedness that’s never cloaked our interactions before. I tug on my bangs, my perennial nervous habit. The street is busy, downtown corporate types heading back to their offices after lunch.

My phone buzzes. “That’s five minutes,” I say quietly, unsure where to go from here. Both literally and figuratively. “I guess we should split up until the first safe zone?”

I didn’t think we’d become Howl enemies so quickly, but I need some time on my own to figure out how I feel about all of this.

Mara nods, her mouth threatening to slide into a devious grin. Competitive mode. “If you guys last that long.”

They already apologized. They shouldn’t feel bad about wanting to go on vacation together. It’s that they didn’t tell me. They’ll have this entire year to be together, whereas my days with them are, quite literally, numbered on the calendar in my room, my end-of-August Boston move-in date circled in red.

“Good luck,” Kirby says. Mara stands on her toes to kiss Kirby, and they squeeze each other’s hands, a small gesture that communicates one thing: you are loved.

“See you guys at the safe zone,” I say.

Then I take a deep breath, tighten my armband, and start running.

HOWL CLUES

A place you can buy Nirvana’s first album

A place that’s red from floor to ceiling

A place you can find Chiroptera

A rainbow crosswalk

Ice cream fit for Sasquatch

The big guy at the center of the universe

Something local, organic, and sustainable

A floppy disk

A coffee cup with someone else’s name (or your own name, wildly misspelled)

A car with a parking ticket

A view from up high

The best pizza in the city (your choice)

A tourist doing something a local would be ashamed of doing