THE END • OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT •

• 7 •

Wow my mum's fancy turquoise dress with the sequins because the black dressing got for Kim's funeral didn't fit anymore, and I didn't had anything else.
When Skeeter got on the bus, I could see in his face that I'd made the wrong decision. I could see it right when he looked at me.
"Crap," I said.
"What?" He sat next to me.
"Nothing."
"No, what?"
"I look dumb," I said.
He was trying to keep his face normal even though he knew what u was talking about.
"You look good," I said.
"No. Really. You look pretty."
This made it worse because I did not look pretty. I never look pretty.
Skeeter was in his Little Caesars uniform with his huge headphones around his neck, and I was in a cocktail dress with my huaraches sandals.
"Do you really want to do this?" he asked. "We don't have to."
Ms. Homeyer has died on Tuesday, and Skeeter didn't get why I wanted to go so bad either.
"I told you, you didn't have to come," I said.
"I'm here, aren't I?"
We were crammed in the seat because the bus was full: probably a matinee just got out at one of the casinos.
I gripped my bag. This was my first time being down on the strip since Kim died, and I still hated it. So much.
Skeeter and I sat there and people were sweating and I felt sticky and as we drove, Skeeter kept trying to talk to me, but I kept saying, Skeeter. Stop talking.
And he'd say, Butdid you see the blah blah?
And I'd say, Skeeter, don't you want to listen to your stupid music?
  When we turned on Flamingo I watched the people outside and tried to tune out Skeeter's voice.
  I heard a lady telling her toddler to pull her panties up. A guy hacking something out of his throat. a kid talking loud in Spanish.
  Outside there were things.
  Usual things.
  Drunks on benches, skanky ladies on cell phones, and tourists taking pictures. Skeeter's voice came back in. His dog  and fishing and Stone Temple Pilots, and blah blah and we turned the corner onto Paradise, and there was a man holding a sign and dancing.
  The sign said,

DR. TED FARNSWORTH IS WATCHING YOU!
COME TO HIS SEMINAR TALKING BEYOND.
TO FIND OUT MORE!
SATURDAY, MAY 26TH
AT CIRCUS CIRCUS RESORT!
go to talktodeadlovedones.com for more info.

  My heart thumped.

DR. TED FARNSWORTH IS WATCHING YOU!

  Thumped.
  I had been e-mailing Dr. Ted Farnsworth every day for months.
  E-mailing. Tweeting. Messaging. I even sent him a postcard
  All I ever got back were form responses.

THANKS FOR YOUR E-MAIL! REMEMBER THE VEIL IS THIN! YOUR LOVED ONES ARE WAITING!

  His website said all his shows were postponed until further notice.

But now

He was here.
  In town.
  The day before Kim's death anniversary, THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY IN YOU MORTAL AND YOUR BELOVED'S IMMORTAL LIVES, and he was here.
  We drive away from the sign.
  We drove and drove and drove and drove and drove away from the sign, and I tried to calm down.
  I tried to calm down.
  Then.
  At the corner of Paradise and Sands, I saw her.
  At 5:23 on Friday, May 25th, in the middle of Skeeter's sentence I saw the wrong dead person.
  I saw Ms. Dead Homeyer.