Tangerine

What special thing happened to Paul?

page 203

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This is page 203 in my copy; is this the scene you're referring to?

Part 3: Monday, November 20

Henry and I reached Tino as he was struggling to his knees, his hands cupped over his head. I saw a trickle of blood coming down from where Erik’s ring had struck him beneath the ear. I was panicked. I wondered if I should call Dad. Or an ambulance. Or the police. I looked up at the patio door, and I saw something move. Something white. Out of the corner of my eye, I

saw a white shirt move. Dad? Dad’s white shirt walking out of the kitchen? Could he have seenit? Could he have seen what Erik did?

I turned back to Tino and tried to help him up. He pushed me roughly away. He lookedaround for Theresa. She was still standing by the wall; she had never moved. I hear the sound ofArthur’s Land Cruiser revving up in the driveway and pulling away. They were gone.I tried to get Tino to come inside, but he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t talk to me, or even look at me. Theresa came over to where we were standing. She walked Tino out through the gate without saying a word. Henry D. and I exchanged one pained look, and then he followed.

I walked as far as the gate and watched them. They stood motionless out at the curb.

Then I heard the rumbling sound of the mosquito sprayer approaching. I saw Wayne stop in front of the house, the cloud of poison still five yards behind him. He pulled of his ant mask, hopped out, and turned of the spray of white fog. Henry got into the cab, but Theresa and Tino climbed back onto the truck bed. They all pulled away quickly, just ahead of the cloud of insecticide.

I wandered back into the yard, sick to my soul.

I stood in the front of the wall and replayed the scene

in my head. I tried to slow the scene down, to relive it

frame by frame. What could I have done What should I

have done?

I stared at that gray wall, waiting. Waiting for

some long-dead, long-forgotten scene to come back to

life. But non did. Nothing came—no answers, no

remembrances, no insights—only the choking white

waves of the fog.

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Tangerine

Or does your question have something to do with what Paul witnesses while he's under the bleachers out of sight? Namely, Erik and Arthur beating Luis with a blackjack.