"Obviously."
"And you never answered the question. Why aren't you staying in Redville? You know, where the signing is?"
"You mean why aren'twestaying in Redville?"
"Yeah. Fine. Whatever. I'm just wondering. Are you hiding from your fans or something?"
"Something like that."
Great. Another non-answer.
Okay, yes, Ihadvowed to stop pestering him with questions. But the wayIsaw it, this could be classified under "making conversation" – like asking about the weather or someone's favorite sports team.
Looking to make a point, I said, "I hear the weather's nice in Redville."
His gaze shifted briefly in my direction, but he said nothing in response.
"See?" I said. "I'm just making conversation. You know, for the road."
At this, he looked almost ready to smile. "What happened to you being comfortable with silence?"
For some stupid reason, I wanted to laugh. "Is that a hint?"
He gave me another glance before saying, "No."
This wasn't the answer I'd been expecting, and for a moment, I almost didn't know what to say.
In the end, it was Jack who broke the silence. "All right. Tell me what you saw."
"Where?"
"The news item," he said.
"Oh. That." Funny, I'd been thinking about it nearly nonstop since yesterday. And yet, sitting here with Jack, it was like my brain had suddenly stopped working.
Still, I rallied to the cause. "See, the thing is, I read on some forum that you purchasedhalfa jester costume in Atlanta."
"On a forum?" he said. "That's not news. It's gossip."
"But that's irrelevant," I said. "Did you, or did you not, buy half a costume?"
He appeared to give it some thought. Finally, he replied, "No."
I studied his profile. He was lying. I was almost certain of it.But did I really want to call him on it?
Yes. I did.
But how?
I was still trying to come up with a tactful way of telling him that he was full of crap when he said, "I bought the whole thing."
I did a double-take. "What?"
"The costume," he said. "I onlytookhalf, but I bought it all. Seemed kind of rude to cheat the guy."
"What?" I repeated like a total idiot.
"Yeah," he said. "I took the shirt, but left the pants."
