Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18

INT. RICH’S BEDROOM — NIGHT

Rich is lying in his bed. In the dim light, the tears lingering in the valleys of his face look like pimples, ready to pop. Someone knocks on his bedroom door.

RICH (without getting up to open the door or rolling over to see who it is, both of which he knows would start the process of forgetting)

Come in…

RICH’S MOM (cracking the door open)

We’re going to the festival.

Rich doesn’t answer.

RICH’S MOM (CONT’D)

You want to come with us?

RICH

Not now. But thanks.

Rich’s Mom closes his door. There are footsteps in the hall, a flutter of quiet voices, and then the front door opens and closes. A moment later, the car starts in the driveway. Rich listens to his family leave. When the silence swells again, he turns to look at his phone, which is lying next to his pillow.

RICH

R.J.?

R.J. (IN PHONE)

Yeah, man?

RICH

What’s it like

in there? Is it…

R.J. (IN PHONE)

Um-uh?

RICH

…better? or worse?

R.J. (IN PHONE) Better! So much better! I doubt

you’d believe me, Rich.

RICH

Try me.

R.J. (IN PHONE)

Remember when your dad

put the AAU basketball

team together when we were in

junior high, so we could play all

year? That didn’t last long, but we

made it to that tourney once, and

we did terrible. We got kicked out

early — but we didn’t care, because we

got to stay in a hotel downtown.

Everything was bright and crazy nearby,

and we went to that Italian place by

the Circle Center Mall, and our parents

let us both get family-sized

meals, and we ate them both until we

both felt kind of sick. But we didn’t

care because all that really mattered

is that you didn’t eat more than I did,

and I didn’t eat more than you did.

It was all a competition. And when we

got to the hotel, we didn’t sleep at

all. We stayed up dribbling and playing

games of basketball that we

invented all ourselves, until the

people at the lobby made our

parents force us back to sleep. But

still, we couldn’t go to sleep.

Maybe that’s why we lost the tourney

early. It was worth it, though, and

being here is kind of like that.

RICH

Is it like that all the time…?

R.J. (IN PHONE) (rapturously)

All the time. And sometimes better.

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