The Fall Musical (22 page)

Wiping her eyes, Brianna continued to dance. She whirled around, threading in and out of Charles and Aisha, Dashiell and Becky, Jamil and Lynnette. And Casey.

Ivy had just opened the buffet, and a line was forming. But Brianna didn't care. She couldn't stop dancing. The night was young. The year was young. There would be plenty of time for food.

Plenty of time for everything.

Epilogue

WE SNUCK BACK IN TO THE SCHOOL AFTER the party, Brianna and I. Mr. Ippolito was still there, cleaning up with his crew. We headed straight for the Shrine. Arm in arm, we stood in front of the photos and looked at them a long time. It was the most amazing thing. They looked different. As if the people in them had changed. I saw
everybody
. Charles was in 1957, I forget the play. Dashiell showed up in
Kiss Me, Kate
from 1979, and Reese—well, for some reason she was there four different times.

Once again I was stumped looking for myself. Brianna kept suggesting things, but I rejected them. You have to
know
. You have to feel it in your gut. I thought maybe I would see myself in a character who had undergone some huge transformation. Annie Oakley or Molly Brown or Sarah Brown or Lady Macbeth or Ophelia or Juliet. But none of them felt right. Brianna was getting frustrated with me, so I gave up.

It was when I started walking away that the girl spotted me.

There she was, peeking out of a photo on the lower left. Not in any meaningful play at all. Just the chorus of a production of
Brigadoon.
She wasn't Asian, either, just a plain white girl in a Scottish-looking outfit dancing a jig. The lead guys, returning to the real world, have crossed the bridge, which means (in the plot) that they're about to destroy the dreamland of
Brigadoon.

The guys are in focus, but the chorus is blurry. I don't remember noticing that the first time. I don't know if that was done on purpose in the dark room or if it's just a trick of perspective.

And then I saw that the girl in the center of the chorus was crystal clear. As I passed, her eyes went with me. Her expression was steady and secure, as if she knew she would stay there while everything around her was fading.

I don't know why I thought she was me. Honestly, the image kind of shocked me. I didn't tell Brianna. At first I figured she wouldn't understand, or would disagree. Or maybe I'd even change my own mind. But after I went home that night, I couldn't stop thinking about her.

I still can't. And I still see her and say hi to her every day.

I haven't told anyone yet. And she hasn't faded a bit.