Page 99 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

Nicholas Boothman
A man outside a bank screamed at the locked doors until his voice gave out.
Two teenagers filmed themselves asking each other questions and laughing each time the patch stayed green, as if truth were a game.
Near the subway, a woman held a baby and argued with someone on the phone.
“I didn’t know,” she said. “I swear I didn’t know.” The patch behind her ear flashed red.
She stopped talking.
Henry kept walking.
He ended up at St. Michael’s.
Vincent was serving late meals to people who had nowhere else to go.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Vincent asked.
“No.”
“Good. I’d worry if you could.”
Henry took a stack of bowls and helped for an hour. Some people recognized him.
One spat at his feet.
One thanked him.
Most only wanted soup.
As he was leaving, a young woman stopped him. Maybe thirty. Tired eyes. A baby asleep against her shoulder.
“You’re Henry Talbot,” she said. “Yes.”
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