Absolute Brightness (35 page)

In those days, if evil had a face, it was just some girl I hardly knew who was saying mean things behind my back, or it was someone I didn't know at all living in some other town or in a far-off country. Evildoers might be sitting right outside my house in a parked car, but back then I didn't know their names or where they lived or what they had in mind.

“Pheebs?” Electra said, as we idled at the corner waiting for the light to change. “You aren't saying anything. You have to promise. You have to say it.”

But what could I say? I couldn't promise Electra anything, because I knew that steering clear was no solution. She didn't understand, not yet, that Deirdre was right—every day you have to stand up to evil. You might even have to risk getting in a car and driving all the way to Trenton. You might have to sit with it in an airless room and look it in the eye until you can see its all-too-human face. And then someday, if you should ever find yourself in the grip of evil, tied up and sinking down to the bottom of a lake, you can remember that, once, you saw a glint of goodness in that same evil eye, and without you, it never would have been there.

The car behind us gave us a toot, urging us forward.

“Just go,” I told Electra, nodding in the direction up ahead. “Just go.”

 

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PRAISE FOR

Absolute Brightness

A WILLIAM C. MORRIS DEBUT AWARD FINALIST

 

“This book will encourage you to be exactly who you are.”

—Eve Ensler, author of
The Vagina Monologues

“A captivating story in which youthful prejudices are transformed into deep compassion and understanding. Beautifully pure.”

—Duncan Sheik, songwriter and composer of
Spring Awakening

“
James Lecesne
has crafted an utterly engrossing tale that, like life itself, confounds expectations at every turn. His heroine is a sort of Scout Finch for the new millennium.”

—Armistead Maupin, author of
Tales of the City

“
Absolute Brightness
is revelatory—funny, suspenseful, surprising, and full of the insight into human life that only the best books offer us. James Lecesne is a treasure.”

—Michael Cunningham, author of
The Hours

“Lecesne is an artist with small details, using them liberally both to heighten his characters' world and to plant material whose significance emerges only much later.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“The marvelous details are engaging, adorable, and also gravely tragic.… The teens created by Jean Ferris and Sarah Dessen come to mind as readers applaud Phoebe and big-sister Deirdre's growth.… An outstanding read for boys and girls alike.”

—
VOYA

“The frank tone of Phoebe's narration and the tragedy of Leonard's abbreviated life will give readers plenty to ponder.”

—
School Library Journal

“Not only is
Absolute Brightness
a compelling story filled with drama and mystery, it is also a tenderhearted telling of good vs. evil and of right and wrong, a celebration of the amazing differences in our world and a reminder to be true to oneself.”

—TeenReads.com

 

PRAISE FOR THE OFF-BROADWAY SHOW,

The Absolute Brightness
of Leonard Pelkey

“A show about the brutal murder of a 14-year-old boy should not, logically speaking, leave you beaming with joy. And yet that's the paradoxical effect of
The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
, a superlative solo show at Dixon Place written and performed by James Lecesne, himself a pretty darn dazzling beacon of theatrical talent.”

—
The New York Times

“The story has the potency to break your heart and make you laugh at the same time.… He has a knack for taking ordinary people and revealing their intricacies.”

—
The Huffington Post

“Although we never actually meet Leonard but come to know him from the fond memories of his neighbors, he seems very much alive.”

—
Variety

“Makes a strong case for the life-changing power of entertainment.”

—
Forbes

“Lecesne crafts an airtight 75-minute story about tolerance, evil and legacy.…
Leonard Pelkey
is streaked with darkness, but Lecesne shines bright.”

—
New York Daily News

“
Absolute Brightness
is a must-see story of love and faith that will challenge you to embrace those around you for their differences. Go see it—and bring a box of tissues.”

—NBC New York

 

about the author

James Lecesne
is an author, actor, and activist, whose film
Trevor
received an Academy Award for best short film. James cofounded the Trevor Project, a 24-hour suicide-prevention hotline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens. He is the author of
Absolute Brightness
, the book that inspired the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play
The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
. He lives in New York City. You can sign up for email updates
here
.

 

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contents

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Epigraph

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Praise

About the Author

Copyright

 

A F
EIWEL AND
F
RIENDS
B
OOK

An Imprint of Macmillan

ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS. Copyright © 2008 by James Lecesne. All rights reserved. For information, address Feiwel and Friends, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

Our books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945 ext. 5442 or by e-mail at
[email protected]
.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016937320

ISBN 978-1-250-10611-7 (paperback) / ISBN 978-1-250-10610-0 (ebook)

Cover design by Bjorn Berqlund

Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto

The excerpt
here
is from “My Favorite Things.” Copyright © 1959 by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Copyright renewed. WILLIAMSON MUSIC (ASCAP), an Imagem Company, owner of publication and allied rights throughout the world. International Copyright Secured. All rights reserved
.
Used by permission.

The excerpt reprinted
here
is reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, from
The Magic of Believing
by Claude M. Bristol. Public domain.

Though the town of Neptune, New Jersey, is a place both real and true, I have taken some liberties in terms of its geography and its character in order to accommodate my story. All the characters, however, are fictional, and any similarity to the actual people of Neptune is purely coincidental.

 

 

THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY

by James Lecesne

Original Off-Broadway Production produced by Darren Bagert and Daryl Roth.

Originally developed and presented at Dixon Place in New York City;

THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY opened Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre in New York City on July 27, 2015. It was directed by Tony Speciale and produced by Darren Bagert, Daryl Roth, Jane Dubin, Curtis Forsythe, Michael Mayer, Diane Procter, Seaview Productions, Minerva Productions, Joshua Goodman; general management by DR Theatrical Management; the set design was by Jo Winiarski; the lighting design was by Matt Richards; the sound design was by Christian Frederickson; the projection design was by Aaron Rhyne; original music was by Duncan Sheik; the original animation and photography was by Matthew Sandager; the costume design was by Paul Marlow; and the stage manager was Hannah Woodward. The cast was as follows:

PERFORMER.…. James Lecesne