Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy Page B

a shop window.
    “We have another idea,” Dovie finally said. “It’s less entertaining than some of the others, but it might work better for a guy who refuses to change his look.”
    “My underwears showed!”
    “Yeah,” Lennon said. “So what about going to the Russian embassy? Or just calling them? You could explain, and they’d come get you.”
    “You suggested drag before this?”
    “We’re creative people,” Lennon said.
    Yuri moved a chocolate chip around on his tongue.
    “I thought about this. But they might come and get me now.” They looked at him, Dovie’s eye shadow scattering the harsh mall lights. “And we’re not done with work yet, on asteroid.”
    “Couldn’t they get you as soon as you’re done? You tell them after you’ve figured your stuff out, and they send some spooky black van after you?” Dovie said.
    He bit his lip, thinking of his disagreement with his team members. No way they’d use his result if he wasn’t there, but he didn’t want to explain that to Dovie and Lennon. Knowing about disagreements at JPL could cost them a lot of sleep. Then again, the asteroid would slam into America, not Russia. NASA could deal with it, and he could go home and protect his work, and his reputation. He paused for a long moment.
    “I have to stay. Until it’s all over with asteroid.”
    “Your choice,” Lennon said.
    “Yeah.”
    They were silent for a moment.
    “What about getting into Mexico—” Lennon said.
    “No.”
    “—and keep going? Argentina takes anybody in. There have to be some old Nazis who have died by now. Maybe you could take over one of their hideouts.”
    “Basic problem,” Yuri said, “is twofold. First, none of us have any experience with this. Second, I need point of exit from this country. Some way to get out. And I don’t have my passport.”
    “You forgot your passport ?” Dovie whacked his shoulder with the back of her fingers.
    “I didn’t forget . They took it when I got on plane. To hold for me.”
    “Ah,” Lennon said.
    “Yeah. Ah.”
    They walked into the Target store at the end of one spur of the mall, passed through aisles stocked with bright-colored plastic sand pails, swim noodles, and sunblock, and filed out through an empty checkout lane. Yuri held the door for Dovie and Lennon. It was still warm outside.
    “Canada would be best,” Dovie said, leading them into the parking lot. “It has a long border, too.”
    “I like Canada. I’m comfortable in forest zone.”
    That made Dovie smile.
    She pulled a shopping cart out of the cart return and climbedin, using the lower railing of the corral as a step. She pointed to the side of the parking lot, and Yuri started pushing her. When they reached the edge of the lot, Dovie extended her hand and Yuri took it, trying to help her out. But Dovie wasn’t a thin girl, and she was starting from two feet in the air. Yuri finally put one arm around her waist and hooked the other behind her knees and lifted her out. He staggered slightly as he put her down, feeling the pull in his sore back and shoulders. He really needed to work out more if he was going to hang off bridges and rescue damsels from shopping carts.
    “Now you get in,” she said.
    He obeyed without a word and didn’t think about it until he was in the cart, knees drawn up to his chest, black dress shoes propped against the red plastic. He was not a spontaneous guy. Not a baggy pants guy. Yet he’d just climbed into a shopping cart because this American girl had told him to.
    And she was pushing him toward the steeply inclined access road that curved down behind the store.
    Yuri grabbed the red plastic rim, and Dovie put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back down. She had a ring on every finger, and he could feel them all through his shirt, bright bits of metal and sparkle and girl. His shoulders tingled, and the sensation spread down his arms, his legs, everywhere. The rings were excellent conductors of