“You know this isn’t going to make a difference, right?”

“You seem pretty sure of that.”

“Not ‘pretty sure.’ Absolutely positive.”

“Look at you, talking a big game. And with big words. Now I’m curious. Elaborate on your certainty.”

“Waste of time.”

“And that there — that right fucking there — is why you’re the only kid in the entire grade that has to take this class in summer school. Because ...

A phone number in a fortune cookie? I might be too drunk. Are these even numbers? I take a deep breath, raise my head level with my shoulders, and try that stupid fucking breathing technique for about nine seconds before deciding again that it’s useless.

But my vision does clear enough for me to read the fortune from the cookie, and it is definitely a phone number. What is this? Do I have to cal...

She played hopscotch along the driveway toward the house, making sure that she didn’t hop outside the boxes despite there being no one to compete with. Even so, she made the extra effort.

As she hit the final box, she hopped out, spun around in the air, and slammed both of her feet down onto the concrete. Dust flew up in a thick cloud, so dense it made her eyes water and tickle her throat to the...

Any attempt to make out the scene in front of them would be a Herculean feat on the best of days, but this was an exercise in futility. Sisyphean, you could say.

Every minute that passed meant more bystanders crowding around. It meant less room to maneuver. It meant less space to do their jobs. It meant lives that were already tenuous had their scales tipped against them.

“How did this even ha...

Down Low tugged twice on his door to make sure it had latched. Then he pulled on it a third time. Nothing wrong with being extra cautious, especially in this neighborhood.

He stood at the top of the staircase down to the street. Fifteen steps. He could do it. He’d gone down every step every day for the past two months, three weeks, and six days. But it never got any easier on his leg.

Lowell —...