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She wanted to go back to sleep but she couldn’t, so she just stayed still until she had to pee badly enough to go and squat, wide-legged, over the stinking bucket she found in one corner She tugged down her jeans and underwear, trying to balance on the balls of her feet, while she pulled the crotch of her clothes as far away from her body as she could She tried to tell herself that it was the sahway and there was no rest stop, so you had to go in the woods There was no toilet paper and no leaves, so she did a little hopping dance that she hoped would shake herself dry

Making her way back, she saw Sketchy Dave starting to stir and hoped that she hadn’t woken hi that the vivid odors of the platforht strea black, grime-streaked iron beams

"Hey, you slept for al on his side and stretching He was shirtless, and even in the gloom she could see what looked like a bullet wound in the center of his chest It pulled the rest of his skin toward it, a sinking pool that drew everything to his heart

Dave moved over to the hibachi and kindled it with matches and balls of newspaper Then he set a pot on top, shaking grounds out of a tin and pouring water fro

She , because he looked up with a grin "Want some? It’s cowboy coffee No ar if you want it"

Nodding, she bundled the blankets around her He strained her a stea it first to warers absently over her scalp She felt thin stubble, like fine sandpaper

"Youwithover at the"Luis and Lolli’ll sleep forever if you let ’em"

"How co The coffee was bitter, but Val found it satisfying to drink, flavored with s a black filo see what the suits throw out"

She nodded

"It’s a skill, like those pigs that can sot it or you don’t One time I found a Rolex watch in with some junkon the kitchen table right into the garbage without looking at it"

Despite what Dave had said about theroaned and slid out from under Luis’s arm Her eyes were still own thrown over yesterday’s clothes She looked beautiful in a way that Val never would, lush and hard all at the sarunted and rolled over, propping hi the wall and the cat strolled out, butting its head against Luis’s hand

"She likes you, see?" Lolli said

"Aren’t you worried about rats getting her?" Val asked "She’s kind of little"

"Not really," Luis said darkly

"Coht" Lolli picked the cat up and dumped her on her own lap

"Yeah," Dave said "Polly and Lolli"

"Polyhymnia," said Luis

Val leaned forward "What does Poly-whatever mean?"

Dave poured another cup for Luis "Polyhymnia’s some kind of Greek Muse I don’t knohich one Ask hiarette stub

Sketchy Dave shrugged, as if apologizing for knowing as much as he did "Our mom used to be a librarian"

Val didn’t really knohat a Muse was, except for a dirade "What’s your ht her breath and was about to staht maybe I’d be a librarian, too" Dave looked at Luis "The library is a good place to think Kind of like down here" He turned back to Val "Did you knoas the first one to find this spot?"

Val shook her head

"Scrounged it I’hed and Dave’s smile broadened He seemed more pleased by his joke now that he knew Lolli liked it

"You didn’t want to be a librarian," Luis said, shaking his head

"Luis knows all about y" Lolli took a sip of coffee "Like Herave Val a dark look, as if daring her to ask what thatand the world of the dead A courier, kind of That’s what Lolli wants et that for aPolly What do you know about rats?"

Val shook her head "Not much I think one stepped over my foot on my way in here"

Lolli snorted and even Dave smiled, but Luis’s face was intense His voice had a ritual quality, as though he’d said this et poisoned, shot, trapped, beaten, just like street people, just like people, just like us Everybody hates rats People hate the way they move, the way they hop, they hate the sound of their paws skittering all over the floor Rats’re always the villains"

Val looked into the shadows Luis see for her to react, but she didn’t knohat the right response was She wasn’t even sure she knehat he was really talking about

He went on "But they’re strong They got teeth that are tougher than iron They can gnaw through anything--wood bea but steel"

"Or diamond," Lolli said with a smirk She didn’t seem at all unnerved by his speech

Luis barely paused to acknowledge Lolli had spoken His eyes stayed on Val "People used to fight theainst dogs, against people That’s how tough they are"

Dave smiled, as if all this made sense to him