After she cleared the food court, she pulled the skirt back into place, and took her bandeau top out of her purse and put it back on, even though it w...as askew and a little bunched up itself, occasionally offering a nip slip while my mom walked. I got up and followed her at a distance again, knowing full well what the next destination was.I walked into the children’s clothing store and spotted my mom behind a rack of clothes talking to a sales representative. These sales reps knew us since we. Then Ally invited me to the Rap Sessions and when I met you, I thought you were handsome and cool, but you were married, which I figured meant it couldn’t happen. I mean, I knew you had a different kind of marriage, but I didn’t understand what that meant.”“I guess I’d ask if me being married is a problem for you? Remember what I said about not being able to undo some things you do.”“I thought about that, and I wasn’t sure. I talked to a friend of mine, one you don’t know, but who has seen you. Naan oru murai appadi oru pennin suuthil theithukodu irunthapozhuthu avalin stoping vantha vudan aval kizhe irangi vital appozhuthu oru periya kaambula mulai ennai urasiyathu. Pinbu enatu muthugai athu azhuthiyathu appozhuthu enathu sunni viraithu kondu irunthathu. Antha auntyin periya mulai muzhuvathum enn meethu pattu kondu irunthathu.Antha samayathil enathu munne innoru aunty vanthu nindruvittargal appozhuthu kuuta nerisalil enathu sunni auntyin suuthil neeraga sorugiyathu. Ennal ethuvume. Oh, he and Bucky were still friends, no question about that, but the number of things they had in common were rapidly dwindling. Bucky was much more stoic about it than Tommy was.One hugely important result of the friendship between Tommy and Bucky was the improvement in the strength in Bucky’s polio atrophied left leg. Bucky was out of his brace by then, and into a high-topped walking shoe with a thickened sole and heel. Tommy and Bucky still walked up and down the stairs to the basement.