The boy proves a surprisingly decent passenger, able to keep his seat as they round corners and not utterly crushing the life out of her as he clings to her waist. Whoever he is, he's not entirely stupid.

Still, she scoffs at his timid admonishment, standing on the pedals as they coast down a straight bit of road. "If you think this is fast," she starts to say, wholly prepared to describe exactly what sort of speeds she and Gladys used to reach, careening down Bishop's Lacey's country lanes--though perhaps not the story that ends with her hitting a rock and pitching headfirst over a fence and into a sheepfold. Instead, she realizes the boy called her by her name, and she chances a surprised look back at him over her shoulder.

"How do you know my name?"