Page 102 (1/2)

Jax looks at the napkin in his hand that says, "Super urgent eerated He would give the world to kno to answer the call

So about the Seattle locks is reht away, as they approach through a little park The gate and entrance building have the same sturdy, antique look Turtle has noticed too "Reels?" she asks

"I sure do," Taylor says "I was just thinking about those guys"

"What angels?" Steven asks

"The guardian angels of the Hoover Da on thisit Turtle and I were just there, not too long ago"

"You like public works, do you?" he ask Turtle

"Uh-huh I saw Lucky Buster fall down a big hole We saved him, but then we had to run away fro to be a writer someday," he tells Taylor

"Could be" Taylor squeezes Turtle’s hand, a secretSteven’s uive all three of them some protection from the drizzle She feels a little self-conscious It’s the first time she has been on a date with two people whose heads reach about to her waist She doesn’t knohether to put her hand on Steven’s chair, or just walk alongside She was relieved when he popped open the uh the entry and Turtle runs a few feet ahead, for once excited, her black pigtails swinging like runaway jump ropes She looks tall and impossibly thin in her new stretch kneepants and T-shirt and heavy white sneakers It see on Turtle’s feet at night--she gets taller, but doesn’t fill in And her skin doesn’t seeht The worry surfaces at the front of Taylor’s mind only at times like this, when she can watch Turtle with her full attention

Inside the lock area, the three of the channel of water with a gate on either end Despite the rain, there are jolly couples out boating: two sailboats already inside the lock, steadied by ropes, and a slender, aggressive-looking speedboat just nowitself in from the sound A man in blue overalls directs the operation Once everyone is secured, an alarate closes, and water rushes into the lock froineered tide, froers bob like bathtub toys "I guess around here you can’t wait for a sunny day to go boating"

"You’d be waiting awhile," Steven says "You should have seen it on the Fourth of July Raining cats and dogs, and the traffic through here was still unbelievable He had thirty or forty boats packed in at a ti lot, all tied to each other"

"That sounds cozy"

"It was There weren’t three square feet of wasted space