‘Everyone shares eventually. We wait till a shrimp’s settled first. Now’s a good time, ah?’ Settled didn’t seem the right word for the pres...nt. Eldrian shrugged. ‘My father died before I came here. Some kind of disease.’ ‘At least you’re not sad anymore, ah?’ He ripped up a slat. ‘Mother was different. She used to mix things together. Alchemy and such, but different. One day she mixed something wrong and our house exploded while father and I were outside in the garden.’ ‘Wow… How old were. “Okay, you can have both of us blow you and you can finger two cunts, too; maybe even fuck both of us.”“It sounds great. I already have permission from my parents to give Bev a ride every day because of the rapist I’ve read about in the paper. I do have one question. Where on earth did you learn to speak the way you do. I never thought I’d ever hear a woman use the word ‘cunt.’Bev answered first. “That’s from camp. Between the girl counselors and the Negro cooks, the language was pretty. He smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It was casual, comfortable, like they’d done it a million times before. The righteousness flew out of me: What were they thinking? How could they be so stupid? How long had this been going on? And then thought, why do I think it is any of my business? I watched as they finished their lunches and tossed away their brown bags in the same city garbage can. Then she headed inside the bed and breakfast with Finn following. Her long lunch hours. I made sure it was all out as I left and stood in the hall. I saw the other firemen as I listened and felt and turned to walk the other way. I heard one yell using their suit speakers and glanced back as I opened the apartment door. Fire was filling the room and I looked at it and pulled.It resisted and I moved into the room as two of the fire suits reached me. The flames swirled around as I pulled and brought them around and into a ball in front of me. I let them go out as I understood why.