Chapter 4: After the Microphone
The rest of the ceremony moved past me in fragments. People stood. Cameras flashed. The dean closed the proceedings with the usual congratulations. I remained in my seat until the row began to empty, the stranger who had caught my elbow giving me a quiet nod before leaving. My knee still felt unreliable. The cheap camera hung from my wrist like an afterthought. On the stage the three of them—Ava, Claire, and June—were surrounded by classmates and professors, yet every few seconds one of them looked toward the third row to make certain I had not disappeared.
I finally stood when the crowd thinned enough to let me reach the aisle. By the time I made it to the front of the auditorium they were already coming down the steps in their gowns, diploma covers pressed against their chests. Ava reached me first and wrapped both arms around my neck the way she had when she was small and the world felt too large. Claire followed, still crying in the open way that had always belonged to her. June waited until her sisters loosened their hold, then stepped in and rested her forehead against my shoulder for a single steady moment.
