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bank across the street read nine-thirty. It was too late to go to work. In her purse she found another stick of gum. She figured she was only half a mile from the Lamplighter, so she’d go there, get a drink, and figure out what to do.
    She made the walk there, and inside ordered a vodka and 7UP. She looked through her purse, found a pen and the new pad of paper, and when the bartender sat her drink down, she finished it in three swallows, and began to write names of cities on the paper. Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Boise, Houston, Reno. She wrote their names over and over, each time with more uncertainty.
    She ordered another drink and went to the bathroom. When she came back, she finished that drink, then looked in her purse, and counted her money. She ordered another and lit a cigarette. She’d calm down first. Calm down as much as the $17.50 in her wallet would let her, and then she’d decide where to go.

Chapter 15
Leaving
    She was drunk when she closed her bank account, and drunk when she got on the city bus to her mother’s house. Sweat dripped from her face as she sat on the plastic bus seat. She stared out the window and the city passed before her. With each building she passed, she was more certain.
    She got off at her regular stop and walked to her house, opened the chain link fence by the garage, and walked into the backyard. The Hulk was laying under the picnic table, and she bent down to pet him, then unlocked the back door, and led him inside. She turned the A/C on high, took off her clothes, went into the bathroom, and took a shower.
    She dressed, then found her mom’s old suitcase. She threw her clothes inside, along with her Patti Page and Brenda Lee tapes. Her framed picture of Paul Newman she wrapped in an old sweater and surrounded it with clothes. She went to the bathroom and took her toiletries out. Then she cooked hamburgers from some frozen patties in the freezer for the dog and her.
    When she’d eaten and done the dishes, she went through the yellow pages and found the pregnancy crisis hotline and dialed the number.
    ‘I just turned twenty-two and I’m pregnant,’ she told the woman who answered. ‘I’ve taken four home tests. I’m almost three months now. I’m gonna go to Reno to have it, and I want to give it up for adoption. I need, if you have them, the numbers for any places there that can help me.’
    ‘There are a few good places in Reno where I can direct you. Have you heard of Casa De Vida? I’ll give you their number. Are you in Las Vegas now?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Do you have family to help you in Reno?’
    ‘No. I have no family anywhere.’
    ‘No one at all?’ the woman asked.
    ‘My grandparents, the Watsons, used to live near Reno in a town called Verdi, but they’re dead now. I have about three hundred dollars. I could get a job for a while, then I don’t know what I’ll do.’
    ‘There’s a lot of adoption agencies that can help with expenses. Do you have insurance?’
    ‘No,’ the girl said and tears began to fill her eyes.
    ‘Remember there are people who can help. I think St Mary’s Hospital in Reno also has a program set up specifically for women in situations like yours. Adoption agencies can often help, too. The prospective parents will sometimes pay for you to have a decent place to stay if you can’t work and don’t have any family help. I know it’s hard, but try to relax, you’re going to be okay. We’ll find people who can help you.’
    ‘Thank you,’ she said and wiped her eyes.
    The woman paused, then came back with the numbers and addresses, and the girl wrote them on a small pad her mother kept by the phone.
    ‘When you get to Reno, if you have any questions you can contact the pregnancy center there or you can contact me – I’m Nancy Collins. Will you please do that? There’s good places up there, and they’ll have counselors who can talk to you about your different options.’
    ‘Thank you, I’ll call them,’ the girl said