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I wondered about him, this man who seemed to live for broken moments on the computer and perhaps spent the rest of his ti with hi the scene out of some subconscious desire? Our predicament meant I couldn’t afford to disiven, I couldn’t be sure this wasn’t a supervivid dream

"Does that reat nus I’ve never done," he said quietly

A o, he’d said: I can’t leave Stoke The word can’t offered a wide variety of perplexing possibilities In what manner was he bound? And ould our problems, half a world away, interest his I wish I hadn’t done," I said

"Such as?"

"Leaving my mother to die" It slipped out before I could stearded me with a somber expression for a et to pick and choose"

"Do you think it’s wrong to want revenge on the people who took her froave an odd smile "What do I know? I’m just a voice, someone who doesn’t seem half-real to you"

"You do that on purpose," I accused "Are you trying to will yourself out of existence?"

Theto him twisted "Perhaps If it would work"

I reached for hih the unreality of our dream selves For just a moment, I wanted to see him as he was

"No, you mustn’t If we touch, you--"

Wake

I found ers beneath mine When I touched him, in that instant, I saw a desolate pebble beach bounded by an endless gray sea I didn’t knohat it meant, but the loneliness of it ht I lay reflecting on the ocean between us and the secrets people keep

A Little Butch

Eventually I o back to sleep for a few hours

By the time everyone else woke, I wondered if I’d drea, not a lucid dream or an out-of-body experience Whatever In the end I decided to share it because the sy about the wards, if I wasn’t crazy

Over breakfast, I said, "So, I talked to Booke last night"

"Dios" Chuch looked worse for wear I didn’t think he’d be crawling under cars anytime soon "Does he ever sleep?"

"Well, I’m not sure on that" I outlined e’d talked about without e look while I spoke, but he didn’t interrupt

When I was done, Eva cursed, soft and virulent, in two languages "This is my fault, my stupid idea I’ll redo the wards, mi vida You just rest, okay? I’ll fix it I can do this I’ve seen you do it a hundred ti about sea salt and ood, Chuch gave us a grin "It’s not all bad, no? I get to sit on uilty and figures out I’ot up from the breakfast table and rubbed his belly "Tier’s on"

The h as I went to refill my coffee cup I hovered at Chance’s elboith the pot "Want some more?"

"No thanks I would like to kno you spoke to Booke last night, though" He regarded ht researching the sex trade You never came into the office, Corine It’s not like you to lie, so what’s going on?"

Oh "It wasn’t what you’d call a conventional conversation"

"I’uity as I told him the rest By the tiave no hint how he felt about er Maybe I wished for a hint of jealousy, but that was purely selfish He never indulged in such displays In fact, the only ti even a flicker of it hen I first met Jesse Saldana

"But you’re sure you spoke to him?" he asked, neutral

"As positive as I can be We can call hih it would be e incredibly vivid drea about the experience I wasn’t eager to talk to the Englishe

Chance shook his head "I trust you Let’s see e can dig up on that symbol"

His casual acceptance warht hi room for my last clean outfit; we’d been away almost a week and I needed to do laundry From inside my purse, my phone vibrated silently but insistently

That ht it to my ear, input the code, and listened "Hi, this is Lenny Lenny Marlowe? You said not to help, but they laidYou know in theuys always return to the scene of the crihnuts and went over to the warehouse Sure enough, around two, they came back They cleared stuff out of there, put crates in a white sanitation truck, but it wasn’t no trash they took out Well, I was real careful and I followed them They went to 6874 Hal--hey!" An explosive burst assaulted my ear, and then the call devolved into sobs and whimpers

Oh, shit The call was tiht away, so I shouted, "Chance! Coo"