“Hello, sir, I am reporting for duty. Where are you?”

“Mississippi and Shaver. Where are you?”

“Oh, for—are you wearing a red skirt?”

He stood up and across the corner Iris waved, smoking in a green dress and Jackie O sunglasses. He hung up and Ray had texted him back: Dude that’s a bar, that costs money!

David hugged Iris and said, “Do you want to go to eighties dance night at Lola’s with me?”

“Fuck off, what? Okay, listen, you are the only person in this city who could drag me to something that ridiculous. That’s how much I love you, okay?”

David posted up for a high-five. “No,” Iris said. “And if you’re taking me to this fucking dance-circus, let’s get a drink first.” She bumped her hip into David’s ass. “I want to talk with you at least a little.”

“Dancing isn’t ’til nine. I know just the place.”

They hopped on the MAX, and as the train was going over the river, some guys snickered and pointed. “Look at that freak wearing a fucking skirt.” “Need your balls chopped off, dude?” David quietly stood up and motioned to Iris, and they moved to the other end of the car.

They got off at Glisan and walked to Tiger Bar. Iris ordered drinks and spring rolls, and then fell into a booth. “So you graduated, right?”

“In June,” said David. “I’m new at this having-a-degree thing. Help. Teach me.”

“I’m still at the bakery. I can’t teach you shit. I’m moving to New York soon, though.”

“New York? Who the fuck does that?” No one’s honest like an ex on good terms. David had read that on the internet somewhere, and it resonated pleasantly with him.

“Mm-hmm,” Iris said. “I’ve always wanted to end up there. And it’s close to my parents, but not too close, you know?”

A kismet of dark light, a tiny circle, opened in David’s belly.

“I’m thinking of moving, too,” he blurted.

“Seriously?” She leaned her back against the wall and stretched her feet out along the booth seat. “I can’t picture this town without you. It’d be like if they dug up the Willamette River. Or replaced Hawthorne with a dog racing track. It would irrevocably alter the landscape and not make any sense.” She paused. “Clearly, this is on me and I shouldn’t be determining your life choices.”

David couldn’t look her in the eye. He stared at the pool table. For the first time, he said the words: “I’m going to transition eventually. I don’t know when. But it will happen.”

Iris’s breath went sharp.

“Good for you.” “I can’t do it here.”

Iris didn’t probe that statement further, and David loved her for that, felt right for talking spontaneously for once.

“Where would you go?” she said.

“I don’t fuckin’ know. Should I move to New York, too?”

“You could come with me.”

She spoke so casually. Like proposing a restaurant option.

“For real?”

“I don’t mean live with me! Sorry, honey,” she added wryly. “I meant pool our resources. I don’t know how I’m getting out there yet with my stuff. We could get a U-Haul. You have a driver’s licence, right?”