Chapter 10: Class of 2016

At 7:58 on Saturday night, two hundred and forty people sat in the Legion Hall in folding chairs.

They were eating pierogi off paper plates and waiting for me to cry.

I sat in the second row in a green dress, with my handheld mic in my lap under a cardigan.

Dolly sat on my left with her fanny pack on her knees.

Emmett stood at the back wall, in a clean shirt, with his arms crossed and his cap in his pocket.

He looked at me once, and nodded, and then looked at nothing.

【Helen: I made lemon bars for everyone.】

【Sue: Helen, you are on the wrong team and you brought snacks. This is the most you thing ever.】

At 8:00 the lights dimmed.

Shayla walked to the podium in a glittering pink dress with her phone live in one hand and a remote in the other.

"Welcome home, Class of 2016!" she sang. "Before we start, a little walk down memory lane."

The screen lit up.

BRITTA'S GREATEST HITS.

The church went by, then the dress with its DON'T CRY tag.

A few people in the audience shifted in their seats.

Then the bench came up on the big screen, and the piano started.

The whole hall made a soft "aww" like a kitten being carried away.

I lifted the mic under my cardigan and stood up.

"Excuse me, Shayla," I said.

My voice filled the Hall.

Two hundred and forty heads turned.

"Is that the whole video?" I said. "I want to make sure everyone sees the right part."

"Can we jump to minute thirty-one?"

"It's not, um." She tilted her head left. "It's just a short clip."

"It's forty minutes," I said. "I was there for it."

A man near the back said, "Play it."

Someone else said, "Yeah, play it."

By the third person it was a chant, low and patient.

It made my skin crawl in a good way.

Shayla looked toward the AV closet.

Her cousin, hunched behind a laptop, looked at the floor.