"There's no fish in the pool." How do you know?"Kinny stopped. "You're afraid of water." I am not afraid of water. Mix it with bourbon. It's fine."Kin...ny grinned. "Finally. Something I do better than you." He floated onhis back. Looked down at his boobs. His nipples were hard, clearlyvisible under the sports skin. Kinny looked at his toes. He stillwasn't used to painting his nails. Kinny grunted. He rolled over.Started doing laps.********Joi worked him until he couldn't lift a kitten. She had to. My muscles were tense, my hands clenched in fists. Iwas ready for action.Two girls were sitting on the sofa. They were readingmagazines and listening to the music, and apparentlyneither had heard me. I looked for signs of Grandma andsaw none.“EXCUSE ME!” I said, loud and strong. The girls lookedup from their magazines in unison and saw me. Neitherseemed surprised by my presence. One, dark-skinned andserious, seemed detached and self-absorbed. She staredblankly at me. The other, very. As simple as handing the brewery keys to an alcoholic. I don’t know how often identically matching sexual value systems collide in a world with billions of people. I am not a psychologist and I do not pretend this was the greatest sexual adventure of all time but our journey certainly felt like the stuff of legend at the time. Sad or cruel or just us, we would often speculate on what the rest of the world was missing. We were blessed or damned depending on your viewpoint. We fit together. It smells of him; manly and musky. There are holes where it has worn, but I love it. I pad into the kitchen and put the coffee on. He likes his strong and black. As I wait for the drip, drip, drip of the machine, my head begins to race. I feel so full of stories, they leech out of my skin and run onto the page themselves. I pick up the notes from the kitchen table and remind myself where we are, today we will write but not for an hour or so yet. He is still sleeping when I enter the shadows of.