Park told Eleanor not to come over after school. He figured he was grounded. He washed his face as soon as he got home and sent himself to his room.
His mom came in to check on him. ‘Am I grounded?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Did you have a good day at school?’ Meaning, did anyone try to flush his face down the toilet?
‘It was fine,’ he said.
A couple of kids had called Park names in the halls, but it didn’t hurt like he thought it might. Lots of other people said he looked cool.
His mom sat on his bed. She looked like she’d had a long day. You could see her lipliner.
She stared at a jumble of Star Wars action figures piled up on the shelf over his bed. He hadn’t touched them for years.
‘Park,’ she said, ‘do you … want to look like girl? Is that what this about? Eleanor dress like boy. You look like girl?’
‘No …’ Park said. ‘I just like it. I like the way it feels.’ ‘Like girl?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘Like myself.’ ‘Your dad …’
‘I don’t want to talk about him.’
His mother sat for another minute, then left.
Park stayed in his room until Josh came to get him for dinner. His dad didn’t look up when Park sat down.
‘Where’s Eleanor?’ his dad asked. ‘I thought I was grounded.’
‘You’re not grounded,’ his dad said, concentrating on his meat loaf.
Park looked around the table. Only Josh would look back at him. ‘Are you going to talk to me about this morning?’ Park asked.
His dad took another bite, chewed it carefully, then swallowed. ‘No, Park, at the moment I can’t think of a single thing I’d like to say to you.’
