Calling for a Blanket Dance

Leander meets Ever at Southern Plains Youth Development for Reoffenders, a program for at-risk youth where Ever works. Leander is a teenager when he meets Ever, and he recalls his difficult childhood. His mother, whose pores smelled like alcohol even when she wasn’t drinking, went to prison for running a man over in her car when Leander was five. Sent to live with his father, he was forced to roam the streets and eat trash with stray dogs because his father was unwilling to allow his son inside of his home. On this day, Leander is running from the police. Although Ever claims that they just want to talk to him, he’s scared that he will be taken to juvie for his violent behavior. He runs but ends up on a cement awning and is cornered. Ever offers Leander his hand. He takes it and is taken to a mental health facility rather than juvenile detention.

After he is released, he moves in with Ever. The Southern Plains Youth Development for Reoffenders has closed, and its residents have all been transferred to other places. Leander remembers Ever telling him to manage his anger by drawing whenever he feels rage creeping in, and Leander complies.