Rockets.
This lonely, teenage blind kid.
Walking backwards in the rain to the territory, ahead.
February 2, 2004
Santa Barbara
John Simon Ritchie , requiescat in pace
acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges the kindness and generosity of Tybie and Bernie Kirtman, which made possible the completion of this novel.
about the author
THORN KIEF HILLSBERY is the author of the novel War Boy. A former editor at Outside, he races motorcycles and lives in Manhattan.
Also by
Thorn Kief Hillsbery
War Boy
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and
incidents are the products of the author’s imagination
or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.
A Villard Books Trade Paperback Original
Copyright © 2005 by Thorn Kief Hillsbery
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Villard Books,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
VILLARD and “V” CIRCLED Design are registered
trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Portions of this novel have previously appeared in
different form in Brindlefish and Fugue.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hillsbery, Kief.
What we do is secret: a novel / Thorn Kief Hillsbery.
p. cm.
1. Los Angeles (Calif.)—Fiction. 2. Punk culture—
Fiction. I. Title.
PS3558.I4534W47 2005
813’.54—dc22 2004055484
Villard Books website address: www.villard.com
www.randomhouse.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-41773-2
v3.0
What We Do Is Secret Page 30