"I know."
"She hates me, right? You told her about the Halloween Incident?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, she hates me or yeah, you told her about Halloween?"
"Both."
The Boyfriend
Two minutes later the sister came back with this guy named Justin. Seemed like a cool
enough dude. Longish hair. Little round glasses. He was carrying a big long shiny silver
case that ended in a sharp point on one end.
"Justin, this is my little brother, August," said Via. "And that's Jack."
"Hey, guys," said Justin, shaking our hands. He seemed a little nervous. I guess maybe
it was because he was meeting August for the first time. Sometimes I forget what a
shock it is the first time you meet him. "Cool room."
"Are you Via's boyfriend?" Auggie asked mischievously, and his sister pulled his cap
down over his face.
"What's in your case?" I said. "A machine gun?"
"Ha!" answered the boyfriend. "That's funny. No, it's a, uh... fiddle."
"Justin's a fiddler," said Via.
"He's in a zydeco band." "What the heck is a zydeco band?" said Auggie, looking at
me.
"It's a type of music," said Justin. "Like Creole music."
"What's Creole?" I said.
"You should tell people that's a machine gun," said Auggie. "Nobody would ever mess
with you."
"Ha, I guess you're right," Justin said, nodding and tucking his hair behind his ears.
"Creole's the kind of music they play in Louisiana," he said to me.
"Are you from Louisiana?" I asked.