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It wasn’t their first argument It probably wouldn’t be their last

Sa When he added up the total number of people he could really talk to, the number came to two: Edilio and Astrid His conversations with Edilio were mostly about official business His conversations with Astrid used to be about deeper stuff, and lighter stuff, too Now they see about it

He was in love with Astrid He wanted to talk to her about all the stuff she knew, the history, thecosmic issues that she would explain and he would kind of almost understand

And he wanted toher hair, having her nuzzle close to hi crazy sometimes

But instead of ued It reminded him of his mother and stepfather Not happy memories

He spent the night on the lumpy cot in his office and woke early, before the sun was even up He dressed and crept out before kids could start arriving to bug him with more problems

The streets were quiet They usually were nowadays Soiven permission to drive, but only on official business So there was no traffic On the rare occasions there was a car or a truck, you’d hear it long before you saw it

Now Sam heard a motor Far off But it didn’t sound like a car

He reached the low concrete wall that defined the edge of the beach He jumped atop it and i motorboat, a bass boat they were often called, was putt-putting along at no ht sky Sam c

ould nized the person

Sae, cupped his hands around his aphone, and yelled, “Quinn”

Quinn see Sam couldn’t see He yelled back, “Is that you, brah?”

“Yeah,out there?”

“Wait a second” Quinn stooped down, dealing with so Then he turned the boat toward shore He beached the shallow craft and killed the engine He hopped out onto the sand

“What are you doing, ain