In truth, nobody’s heart was in it. The evening went by in fits and starts. Conversations went into cul-de-sacs. There wasn’t enough booze (there wasn’t any whiskey, to Mike’s distress). The absence of Janis and the substitution of Sara, who clearly had no intention of spending the evening in the kitchen, reduced the flow of both conversation and snacks. Billy’s absence, while a relief in some ways—as Mike would say to Joe a few days later, it changed the air in the room.

And then there was Todd. Only a lunatic would say that they preferred Todd the way he used to be, cawing and carping and mocking and holding forth, but this new Todd—he was unsettling the way he seemed to be listening to what people were saying, rather than waiting until they’d finished speaking so he could jump in with a sarcastic putdown or a prepared witticism. Todd seemed interested in Mike but—if they were honest—he also seemed to be appraising him, like tonight was a test. A test of what, nobody knew.

When eleven came and Sara started yawning, everybody was relieved to take it as a cue to head on home.

*  *  *

“That went well, I think,” said Todd as he helped Sara clear the bowls of snack food and the beer cans from the lounge.

*  *  *

“That was weird,” Mike said to Joe the next day, when they went for a beer together.

*  *  *

“That was amazing,” said Sara lying in bed and stroking Todd’s chest.

*  *  *

Billy Cairns didn’t say anything. How could he? There was no longer any part of Billy capable of speaking.

*  *  *

“Where are we going?” said Sara as Todd opened the Volvo’s passenger door for her.

“I just feel like going for a drive,” said Todd.

“I see the holiday mood is continuing,” Sara teased. Todd smiled back, a little tensely. A holiday was something that couldn’t last.

“A penny for your thoughts,” Sara said, as Todd got in the car.

“I was just thinking about an old joke,” Todd said, starting the engine and pulling out into the road.

“And now Todd Milstead is telling jokes,” said Sara. “Wonders will never cease.”

“Guy goes to Hell,” said Todd, “and Satan shows him two fields, both full of shit. Like four feet deep in actual shit.”

“Charming.”

“One field of shit is full of people standing on their heads, and in the other, all the people are also in shit but they’re standing up and drinking coffee and eating donuts.”

“I don’t think that’s in Dante.”

“And Satan says to the guy, which field would you like to go in? And the guy’s not dumb, he says, the field where everyone is standing up, drinking coffee and eating donuts.”

“Reasonable.”