- X -

Frankly, I Find Your Ambiguity Highly Irresponsible

         ". . . that when I said, maybe you should think of a better name for yourself . . ."
         Laughter blended like a room of wine glass toasts.
         The door opened, the diner ejected them into the parking lot, girls first because that was the only fair to do it, after that it was every man for himself. Somehow it remained orderly. This was no fire drill screaming here.
         "Damn it's cold out," Jina shivered, wrapping her coat tighter around herself, stepping carefully around small patches of ice embedded in the asphalt. The moon overhead formed an amorphous reflection in the glistening black still pools, warring with the diner lights for dominance. Just because you're bigger doesn't necessarily mean you'll win. Sometimes it's the closest punch from the weakest hand that does the most damage.
         "That sounds like a cry for help to me," Brian said, coming up on her side and throwing her arms around her. Suddenly buried in his jacket, Jina gave a startled laugh, the two of them rocking from side to side as she half heartedly tried to break free. "How's this?"
         "It makes me just toasty," Will called out dryly near the steps. Buttoning up his coat, he noted, "I thought this weather was supposed to cool hormones down."
         "Nonsense," Brown said. Sidling closer to Will, he cooed, "It brings bodies together, everyone cuddling closer, getting nice and cozy, sitting by the fire . . . you know how nothing stokes a flame like a little-"
         "Jesus, okay!" Will exclaimed, jumping back a full step. Staring into Brown's decidedly unrepentant grin, he said, "I think it's high time you got shipped back. Civilian life gives you strange ideas."
         "I thought being cold was your job," Tristian remarked to Lena. The two of them were standing off to the side, their bodies awash in the diner's jaundiced lights. "Jina's going to steal all your best lines if you're not careful."
         Shrugging, Lena replied, "She always said she'd rub off on me if we roomed together long enough. I guess it was the other way around." Her wicked smile matched Brown's in tone, if not sentiment.
         "Hey, you know we're still over here," Jina said, disengaging herself from Brian in a tangle of arms, winding up still very much within arm's reach.
         "Oh were you listening?" Brown asked innocently. "I'm sorry, you looked too occupied to hear."
         Jina made a face at him, sticking out her tongue. In the darkness the effect was of a slug crawling out of her mouth. Somehow the moment stripped the image of its inherent hideousness.
         "So, when are you leaving?" Will asked Brown, checking his watch as if he might be on the same departure.
         "In a little while, as it turns out," Brown said, pacing a little away from the steps, closer to Brian and Jina. At the other edge Tristian and Lena began to move toward the center. Somehow it all comes together. These disparate parts don't touch at all angles but form a shape nonetheless. "I've got to be on a bus not too long from now."
         "Bit of a beastly hour to shove off, wouldn't you say?" Will commented, bouncing a little in place to generate warmth. "They couldn't wait until a more convenient time, like say, morning?"
         Brown shrugged fatalistically. "Hey, orders are orders. You know how the army is." His speech was only for Will. Will and the audience playing along at home. Another group came bustling out of the diner, their voices bouncing and ricocheting, reveling in the lack of echo presented by the emptiness of the night hours. A sound made now might just carry on forever. "And it's not I have to stand at attention the whole ride, I'll catch up on some sleep. Compared to some of the places I've slept . . ." he trailed off, throwing a grin in Tristian's direction, although Lena was the one to muffle a laugh and turn away, her face nearly resting on Tristian's shoulder. It was quite possible Brown winked, but the motion was too swift and the light too bleak.
         At the corner the light changed and an idling sports car lunged forward, its stretched out roar hovering in its wake along with the sickly smell of its exhaust. Putting one arm around Jina, Brian leaned her against him and said to Brown, "That reminds me, where the hell are you stationed? My mother was asking the other day and I didn't know what to tell her."
         "Aw, I'm sorry I helped you let her down," Brown quipped, his face smoothening into a sort of exaggeratedly pained sadness. Jina was biting her lip to keep from laughing. Brian seemed to mistake her restrained shaking for a shiver and pulled her even closer. "I never told you? Seriously? I swore I mentioned it at some point."
         "This is only the second time I've seen you in five years," Brian noted. "I'm pretty sure I would remember that."
         "Really? We should ask your mother what she thinks of that," Will interjected, raising his eyebrows in mock fright at Brian's glare.
         "Now, now, children," Brown interrupted, waving his hands for a truce. "It's too cold for such discord, we're all friends here."
         "Yeah, somehow," Brian growled in Will's direction, causing the man to increase the degree of his feigned fear.
         "Careful, Will, if you overdo it, you might make him think he has a chance," Lena pointed out, giving Brian a cautiously mocking sidelong glance.
         "Yeah, you bleed in weather like this, it stings like hell," Brian said evenly. "We all know how well you deal with pain."
         Will just grinned broadly and pounded his chest once with one hand.
         Brian just sighed and shook his head. "Am I the only mature one here?" he asked no one.
         Jina patted his hand fondly. "Don't worry about them. You don't need to prove anything."
         "What's that, Jina," Lena called out, stepping away from Tristian and around to his other side. "Thank God, you said? Did I hear you correctly?"
         "If I just walked away now," Brown said offhandedly to Tristian, "do you think anyone would notice?"
         "I'll be sure to give them your regards," Tristian answered matter of factly.
         "So, Brown, where the hell are you stationed? You going to tell us?" Brian called out, his words tumbling like dice. It's all coming up aces.
         "Please, so his mother stops harassing him," Will said with a laugh.
         "Oh, if he did, he'd have to kill you," Jina ventured seductively. A look passed between her and Brown that wasn't easily quantified, it could have been a shared glance or a random moment.
         "Well, she's right, actually," Brown replied seriously. "Thing is," he continued with a shrug, "I actually don't know. Turns out my unit got moved while I was here, so God only knows where I've been sent to now. Hopefully they didn't go and lose all my stuff. Tracking it down winds up becoming a covert mission in itself. But I guess I'll find out when I get there."
         Brian shook his head. "You take this stuff a lot better than I would. Military life would definitely not be for me."
         "What about the uniforms?" Will asked. "Everyone knows what uniforms do to women."
         "I swear if your next words are anything like You need all the help-"
         "Damn," Will snapped his fingers, the sound of a shell breaking. "You beat me to it. How do you do that?"
         "I'm just going to ignore him," Brian responded to the rest of the assembly. "How about it?" he asked Jina, squeezing her a little tighter. "Do I need a uniform?"
         "You're just fine the way you are," Jina answered after a moment, barely able to patronize with a straight face. Turning to her roommate, she said, "Isn't that right, Lena? Isn't he just dreamy?"
         Lena raised a questioning eyebrow. "Sure. Dreamy. That's just what I would have said."
         Bobbing up and down on his feet again, Will shook his shoulders and said, "Not to ruin what is becoming a particularly fruitful pile on Brian . . . but can I put in a vote to call it a night?"
         "Oh crap, that reminds me," Brian said, releasing Jina and stepping back. "I have to get up early tomorrow."
         "I'm sure Jack will keep you from oversleeping," Lena noted archly.
         "I'll try to avoid that if I can. Last time he hid the phone and called from someplace else, had me stumbling around for ten minutes half asleep looking for the damn thing. When I finally found it and picked it up, he pretended to be a credit card company." Brian gave a knowing laugh and shrugged. "Which is fine because the next weekend when I went home and he didn't, I set the alarm for four in the morning and turned the radio up all the way before I left."
         "That's quite the wake up call," Tristian observed.
         Brian laughed again, the sound of evils past. "It would have been, if he didn't go into a coma when he sleeps and therefore didn't hear it. Which is okay, because the police were only happy to let him know what they thought of it after the neighbors called on it."
         Brown chuckled. "That's really wrong. I'll have to keep it in mind. I'll be sure to do it to someone when I want potatoes for dinner."
         "Yeah it has all kinds of uses," Brian agreed. "I just make sure he gets to bed before me, at least until I think he's forgotten about it. Which may not be for a while, sometimes he's a bitter little man." Stepping around Jina he stalked toward Brown, extending his hand. "That said, I think it's safe to go home now." It had the air of an old ritual. "You take care now, Joe. Wherever the hell you wind up."
         Brown shook the offered hand firmly. "Thanks, I'll do my best."
         On his other side, Will said goodbye in the same fashion. "You think you'll be back anytime soon?"
         Between the two of them, hands in his pockets, Brown could only shrug. "Who knows? I hope so." Scuffing his foot roughly on the ground, he added, "If I do, I'll try to make it under better circumstances. We don't need to do this again for a while." Something in his voice silenced any type of response, if any had been forthcoming.
         Stifling a yawn, Brian said, "Yeah, well that's it for me, then." Turning to Jina, he asked, "Need a ride home?"
         She shook her head. "No, I was going to go with Tristian and Lena to see Joe off." A grin splashed down on her face. "I'll try to throw myself on his mercy for a ride."
         "Good luck," Brian said with a snort.
         "I think we can find room for you," Tristian said amiably.
         "See?" Jina said. "That wasn't hard."
         "I know I'll feel a hell of a lot more merciful when I get myself on a warm bus . . ." Brown said, zippering his jacket up another inch. "So I'm going to start walking in about ten seconds. Those who wish to follow are welcome to do so."
         "Sounds like our cue," Lena noted impishly.
         "And ours," Brian agreed. "All right, Joe, it was good seeing you again, everyone else, we'll catch you later." With that Brian and Will walked away to the car.
         The remaining foursome headed in the other direction, with the grinding of Brian's cold engine starting serving as a backdrop to the beginning of their trek.
         "Think you should have told them where you were actually going?" Jina asked Brown, sliding up next to him and trying to match his loping stride. Behind them Tristian and Lena followed, the former with his usual observant calm, while she did her best to look not obviously cold, or at least not say anything about it.
         "Another day," Brown remarked. "When they're older." Noticing that Jina was trying to avoid jogging to keep up with him, he scaled back his pace. After all, he had no need to hurry now, did he? "I figure I'll get them used to Tristian before I decide to spring any of my little surprises on them. You know, just to keep them off balance." Over his shoulder he added, "Unless of course, a certain someone's acquaintances feel like breaking it to them earlier." Lena smiled and looked down but didn't say anything else. Jina used the distraction to grab Brown's arm and slow him down to a more sedate pace.
         "I thought I already apologized to you for that," Tristian noted.
         "You don't count. Your only fault is that they happen to look like you. I'm still waiting for theirs."
         "Do you really expect them to?" Tristian pointed out.
         "Can't a boy have hope?" Brown asked. Looking to the empty streets, the night sketched across the sky, the few lonely dewdrop stars poking through the murk, he threw out his arms and said, "Well, can't he?"
         "Shh!" Jina admonished, grabbing his arm again. There was no answer from the city, not even an echo. The buildings with their sleeping storefronts and their dark windows sat empty and abandoned, swallowing up all extraneous noises. The smell of cigarette smoke drifted in from somewhere distant, perhaps carried over the ocean. The wind was blunted by the blocky structures all around, although fingers and tendrils worked their way around corners, tickling exposed skin with a whip's velocity, making it feel dry and raw. "We need to get you back where you belong," Jina added, grinning at him. "This city air is making you giddy."
         "That's right," Brown agreed, taking hold of her other arm and spinning her around, spiralling them both down the sidewalk. "I can't stay in this city any longer, it's driving me mad." Laughing, Jina tried to jump away, only succeeding in nearly knocking herself into a wall and pulling Brown with her. "We're retracing the footsteps on my misbegotten youth here, Jina. Don't you see?"
         "Aren't you glad you decided to walk back here?" Tristian asked his companion.
         "No complaints so far," Lena agreed pleasantly. Her eyes narrowed as she eyed Brown and his imploding spectacle. "And certainly not now."
         Walking backwards, Brown swung his arm, indicating an invisible line on the ground. "Me and my crew, we used to run up and down these streets like we owned them, like we were on patrol. All the way to the highway and if we managed to make it down that far, we'd sit at the gas station and watch the lights from the cars on the overpass." His grin indicated a past buried deep but not so far gone it couldn't still be touched. "And we'd stare at all the people coming off the highway and try to decide which ones deserved entrance into our city." Shoving his hands into his pockets, he skipped backwards on his heels, narrowly dancing around a sign he couldn't possibly see. But this city is encased in stone, these landmarks will only shift with the continents themselves. "That's right, proper thugs we were in those days. But we thought we were lords." Stopping and bowing to Jina, who was walking on the opposite side of the sidewalk now, eyeing him with amused wariness, he said, "With the occasional lady allowed, of course."
         Jina returned the sentiment with a mocking curtsy, rolling her eyes at Lena, who grinned and tried not to laugh. They reached a corner, a traffic light looming over like a silent guardian, mouth red and open wide. To the left led deeper downtown, past modest buildings of brick and glass, past rows of lights suspended like imprisoned fairies, illuminating the quiet streets, throwing crooked shadows of bare trees onto every surface.
         The four of them went right, across the road. The streets were empty both ways, sloping upward further on until the horizon itself was out of sight, the opposite direction no more than flattened pavement, striped and stretching as far as the eye would allow. The stillness quivered in the frozen air like a bell about to be struck, giving the impression not so much that they were the only people in the world but that they were allowed in the amusement park long after the place had been closed and the rides had been shut down. The magic lingered though, in darkened interiors and familiar architecture, in flickering streetlamps and dirty payphones, in shouted whispers that once said anything was possible.
         "You never joined in any of this fun?" Lena asked Tristian, a mischevious glint in her eyes. "It sounds like it was right up your alley."
         "I hope to God you're being sarcastic," Tristian responded, shooting her a strange look.
         "Now, don't put the poor girl down," Brown chastised cheerfully. He seemed possessed of a trembling energy, even when he stood still he hopped from one foot to the other, unable to remain motionless. "It's an honest question."
         "Thank you, Joe," Lena replied sweetly.
         "But then again, what were you thinking," Brown added with a puzzled look. "Tristian? With us? Woman, no. Tristian and I spent our equally wayward youths far apart from each other. It wasn't until we reached the flowering of maturity that we discovered our kindred spirits." Brown glided next to Tristian, putting his arm around the man's shoulder and grinning like they were about to be photographed at the circus. Tristian merely reused the same odd look he had unleashed upon Lena moments before. It turned out to be surprisingly versatile.
         "Joe practically had a gang going on back then," Jina explained to her friend. Silent vehicles stared at them blankly from behind the high fence of a used car lot. An empty bus stop shelter served as a resting point for a moment. Everyone but Brown clustered inside to avoid the hissing wind. Leaning her head out so that he could hear her, she said, "Who was it? You, Brian, Will, that guy Paul . . ."
         "A regular crowd of ruffians," Lena noted, her face unconvinced.
         "You see why I didn't join," Tristian said, shrugging to the two girls. "I had to maintain what little reputation I had."
         "I thought everyone saw you as . . . what's the word?" Lena feigned, before finally snapping her fingers and pointing at Tristian. "Oh, that's right. Eccentric."
         "And Don," Brown said. "Let's not forget about our dear, departed comrade." The playfulness of his words danced on a somber minefield. Tristian stepped out from the bus stop, leaning against the outer skin of the shelter. The wind rustled his hair, smearing it over his forehead.
         "Don, Don, Don," Brown mused, almost to himself, marching a few locksteps down the sidewalk, before pivoting sharply on his heel and facing the trio. "You remember the winters here, Tristian?" he asked casually.
         "I remember them as being cold, much like now," Tristian responded. "I wasn't quite an outdoor person in those days."
         "One year it snowed . . . three, four feet, easy," Brown recalled. Flashing a sly grin, he said, "Feel free to faint in horror at any point, Lena."
         "For the record, I'm not catching you if you do," Jina remarked in Lena's ear.
         The other girl sighed. "I'm telling my next group of friends I'm from Alaska."
         Tapping his foot on the road, Brown said, "With this here being a major road, they had to plow it all right away." He stalked along the curb, a few steps forward, a few steps back. "Afterwards the snow was piled up in these giant heaps along the sides here." His arm reached up, stretched, tried to indicate a perspective no longer available. "We walked along and it was like strolling in this dark ice tunnel, snow just completely over our heads." Taking a step back, he continued, "At some point we started pretending we were manning battlements, running back and forth to keep the enemy from coming over, delivering messages and supplies . . ."
         "I don't remember it being that much fun in real life," Tristian interjected.
         "That's real life for you," Brown replied. He glanced at his watch, the motion turning into a stretch as he strode along his narrow path. "So we're going along and Don has this sudden brainstorm that we should double check to make sure that all the invaders are gone. Before any of us have a chance to talk him out of it, he scampers up the snowwall here," his hands tracing out the curve of the long evaporated mass of snow. "And he gets to the top and we can't even see him, the sun's come out and he's just this person shaped blur against a haze of whiteness." Brown shielded his eyes with his hand, squinting in an attempt to see what hadn't been clear then. "Then he fell." His hand dropped. "Right through the snow." Laughing, Brown shook his head. "Which I think in some form or another we saw coming, but still . . ." he chuckled again. "Idiot. God, we all were." Tucking his chin into his chest to ward off a brisk breeze that suddenly sprang up, he said, "But we raced right into action, shouting, trying to dig through the wall in an attempt to reach him. We'd all been raised on a steady diet of disaster movies and all sorts of grisly scenarios were running through our heads. So we were digging and digging and digging . . ." Brown shot them all a sidelong glance, smirking thinly. "When Don comes wandering from a gap in the wall, covered in snow, wondering what the hell all the fuss is about." He threw back his head and sighed, miming silent laughter into the wind. "When we weren't looking, he broke through to the other side." He fell quiet, head bowed in thought. He looked at Tristian, who met his gaze squarely, then back out at the street again. "It's been a long time," he murmured, almost to himself, "the wall's not quite as high as I remembered."
         Feet positioned at attention, Brown checked his watch again. Nodding to himself, he spun on his heel and stalked off toward the fence. Curious, Jina stepped out from the bus shelter, shivering involuntarily as the wind tried to embrace her. Tristian was already moving, his steps unhurried but fluid, without hesitation.
         "He's not taking a bus, is he?" Jina asked Tristian.
         "What made you think he was?" was the only answer.
         The gate to the lot was held closed by a heavy lock. Waves of cars, their colors muted by the night, lay framed within the chain links. Brown hefted the lock, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, which he then used to unlock it. As Tristian approached, Brown handed the lock to him, saying, "Make sure you lock up after I leave, okay?"
         "Is this legal?" Lena asked, looking around cautiously, her eyes darting all around. She stopped at the entrance to the lot, clearly unsure about going in.
         In Brown's hand the key glittered in the cloud filtered moonlight. "Sure. This looks legit, doesn't it? Why shouldn't I have a key? I do own the place, after all."
         Lena and Jina exchanged incredulous looks before turning the expressions on Brown. Their only response was a devil's smile and a offhand shrug, "I need something to do on the weekends."
         "So you're driving back in one of these?" Jina asked with substantial sarcasm. Kicking lightly at a tire, she said, "I'd go with this one." Both her and Lena appeared to be adapting well, unless they were simply forging on oblivious, painting it all in dream colors. On a night like this, even pastels were grey.
         "He'd better not be taking a car," Lena said, stuffing her hands deeper into her coat pockets. The cold had flushed the color into her cheeks. "I didn't wait all that time so he could just drive away. No offense, Joe." Spinning in a half circle, she eyed a nearby car, looking it up and down with some satisfaction. "Though sharing some of the wealth would take away some of the sting," she added with a grin.
         "Maybe for next Christmas," Brown replied with false enthusiasm, his look indicating how likely he thought that might be.
         "I get the feeling I'm not grasping something here," Jina wondered outloud. Turning to Brown she said, "How exactly are you leaving?"
         Brown only smiled and pointed to an empty portion of the lot. A phone booth was now sitting there, looking for all the world like it had been there all along.
         "What the-" Jina marveled. "Where the hell did that come from? That wasn't there a minute ago." Looking around for support, she said, "Right? It wasn't there?"
         "No, it wasn't," Brown replied calmly. Tristian was only looking down, his smile only something seen from the farthest edges. "It materialized three seconds into the future and hovered there until we caught up with it. It's easier that way." Catching Jina's look in mid-stream, he added with a laugh, "Trust me on this." He then frowned, muttering, "A little too much overlap though. I think we're going to have to go over it one more time."
         "Then that's from . . ." Lena started to say, then stopped, perhaps realizing she didn't even know what her question really was. "That's the . . . whatever it is you belong to . . ."
         "Yes," Brown replied. His voice was small in the vast lot.
         "Oh," Lena said after a moment. Her shiver was probably from the cold. "Wow."
         At some point a man emerged from the phone booth, wearing a dark blue two piece suit with a red tie, his hair black and slicked back, and black rimmed glasses. He crossed his arms and leaned against the object, looking as casual as a man could be while hanging around in an empty car lot late at night. Everything about the man was utterly normal. He looked completely out of place.
         Lena was staring at the man intently. Squinting suddenly she muttered, "Why does he look like . . ."
         "Yeah, it's the boys' idea of a joke," Brown answered with a sigh. "I figure it just shows that they care." Snorting a laugh, his face became abruptly serious. "I think it's time for me to go, though."
         "Take care, Joe," Jina said, hugging him, briefly knocking him off balance. "Try to come back when you can."
         "I'll do my best," he said, but his eyes were unreadable. Releasing her, he stepped back and said to Lena, "It's been a pleasure, my dear. You've been a patient co-hostess these past few days."
         Lena shook her head as she grinned indulgently, saying, "'Bye, Joe."
         Facing Tristian, Brown said soberly, "I take it we'll be seeing you soon?"
         "Ah, yeah . . ." Tristian told him, running a hand through his hair. Having not spoken in a while, his voice was briefly hoarse, as if reawakening. "I'll have to go over with you guys what I found. We really didn't get a chance to discuss it here."
         "Were the Dakkers receptive at all?"
         "It's hard to tell," Tristian replied. "The General may have to pay them a visit. They may be more inclined to listen to him."
         Frowning Brown said, "I doubt it, but it's worth a shot." Clapping the other man on the shoulder, he said, "We'll go over later how we're going to coordinate this. They're not the only problem. I'll explain more when you come by."
         Tristian nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
         "Good man," Brown grinned. Then he turned and strode off purposefully toward the phone booth, weaving through ordered rows of slumbering cars, his boots tapping hollowly, his shadow draped over them like a curtain, the lights splitting it into three or four fainter images. In a short time he had reached the booth. The man standing there leapt to attention and saluted Brown, who returned the motion. His stance was that of a completely different man now, having been changing subtly the entire walk toward the booth. The man stepped aside to let Brown in, and then followed, with both of them disappearing inside.
         Another moment passed and then the booth blinked out. There was no sound to announce its departure, no flickering lights or rip in the air. It merely ceased to be. Here and gone. Gone but not here.
         Tristian stared at the empty space for a long time, his breath billowing out in faded clouds from his nose and mouth. When he did turn around, he found two sets of sly smiles waiting to greet him.
         "What?" he asked, slowly, warily, raising one eyebrow.
         Jina glanced at Lena, nudging her friend and saying, "Aren't they just too cute when they talk business?"
         Tristian smiled and looked down, as if suddenly embarrassed. "Jesus, don't start that." Glancing back at the empty space again, he turned and began walking toward the gate, his presence forcing the girls back, if only so he didn't run into them. "Let's get out of here before the police find us and we really have some explaining to do."
         "So does Joe really own this place?" Jina asked once they were outside the gate. From the outside the lot appeared as a still tableau, a frozen scene from a deadly boring series of performance art. A vague smell of exhaust hung in the air, grimy and sweet. A bus must have been here not too long ago. But did they run that late? It was hard to say.
         "First I've heard of it," Tristian replied, fastening the lock back onto the gate, giving it a sharp tug to make sure it had been locked properly. "But that doesn't mean anything, he may own it and the people here may not even realize it." He faced them and shrugged, saying, "Or he may have just had the key made."
         "So you don't know either way," Lena noted, a faint smile peeking out.
         "As I've been telling a lot of people these days," Tristian replied with some resignation, "there are a lot of things I don't know."
         "It's okay, Tristian, we understand," Jina said cheerfully, taking his arm and leading back to where his car lay, somewhere distant, somewhere just down the street. Beyond that morning hid. Somewhere away. It was dark now. But it couldn't stay that way.
         "Sure you do," Tristian said, sliding his arm out from hers. Lena was on his other side, making it impossible to step away. All he could do was step back and fall behind. He didn't. "You're just trying to figure out how to escape from the mass hallucination that is my life."
         "You know, Tristian," Jina said airily, ignoring his self effacing assault, "you never did get a chance to finish explaining those pictures to me."
         "Yeah, you go on vacation and you're not going to tell us about it?" Lena chimed in. The wind drifted past like invisible smoke, pushing collars up, forcing heads down, tucking hands deeper into pockets, increasing strides slowly but surely.
         "It wasn't exactly a vacation-" Tristian tried to explain, cutting himself off when he realized it wasn't going to do any good. Smiling at some private joke where the punchline was himself, he said, "Nevermind." He laughed again, softly. "Fine. Do you folks have anywhere special to be tomorrow?"
         "Not really," Jina said slowly as Lena shook her head to indicate puzzled agreement.
         "Good," Tristian replied, not looking at either of them. "Good," he said again, quieter. Louder, he told them, "Because you see, it's a bit of a long story . . ."
         "Aren't they all?" Lena asked, her eyes mischevious.
         Tristian didn't immediately reply. "Yes," he said, after a moment's thought. "Fortunately, they are.”