“That happens to me sometimes.”

“Yeah, well, same thing here.”

“Where?”

“The marines, man. I’ve been plannin’ on going in anyway.”

“When did you plan this?”

“When did you start going with Miss Bell-bottoms? You want to go in with me?”

“The marines?”

“I talked to this guy in Springfield and they got this Buddy Program all set up. We go to boot camp together, grunt it out, then wango-bango, zoom into Combat Zone City.”

Leo looked down at the counter. He smiled and wished he hadn’t.

“Yeah? You in?”

“I don’t know, GP. I haven’t even registered yet.”

“Yeah but, ‘member when I talked you into to going out for wrestlin’ and you made varsity and friggin’ loved it?”

“I liked it.”

“Yeah, anyway, same thing. Except this time it’s like going to the Olympics, you know? Much better than All-State. This ain’t even the nationals; we’re talking world shit here.”

“I hope you two aren’t talking baseball because I find it incredibly bourgeois and boring.” Allie sat down on the stool between Leo and the Jayne Mansfield girls. She rested her chin on his shoulder and said to Gerry, “You swear a lot. Don’t you think that compromises your integrity?”

“Integrity? Who’s got integrity? I’m trying to talk Lucky Leo here into a little world adventure. Allison’s not contrary to her man rubbing up against some world adventure, is she?”

“Not if it includes me.”

“That’s a laugh. Isn’t that a laugh, Leo?”

“We gotta go, GP. We’ll talk about it later, okay?”

“Nothin’ to talk about, man. You’re in or you’re out.”

Leo stood. “I’ll see you ’round, buddy.”

“You got it, the Buddy Program. Look it up, will ya? Just go look it up.”

Outside, in the white and red light of Beatrice’s, Allie put her hands on her hips and looked over the parking lot.

“I walked,” Leo said. “My pop’s wheels are down at the Elks.”

“On a Wednesday night?”

“No, he’s at home.”

“Did he get a flat?”

“Nope.”

“So let’s go get it for him.”