It occurred to me suddenly that it was a remarkably expensive illusion. The fabric and tailoring of the suit suggested the money that the nightbabies, in their mud and rags, pretended not to have. What was it that Dana did, when she wasn’t disturbing Cassidy?

“So, did you see me out carousing last night?” I asked her.

“No. Were you?”

“Cassidy says so.”

“Then it must be true.” She riffled a fingertip over Cassidy’s jutting knuckles, as if they were piano keys. Cassidy looked overwrought and a little ill. Alcohol and unrequited love will do that. Dana’s attention remained on me, the intensity turned up full. She’d caught a whiff of the bizarre; her nose never failed her. “Did you have a bang time? You don’t usually get radded up, do you?”

I would not tell Dana about the blackouts. The genuinely freakish always moved Dana to pity. She would exclaim over me; she would advise me, with relish; she would recommend the counsel of her friends, who were legion; and worst, she would pet me. Then Cassidy would probably be sick on the table. “I woke up today feeling as if I’d missed my own funeral,” I said. True, so far as it went.

Dana shook her head. “Is something troubling you? You shouldn’t zero yourself out, sugar. You could dig yourself a hole awful fast.” She clutched my shoulder. “You’re so thin already.”

“Like coiled steel.”

She let go. Her coral liptint was faintly luminous; when she pressed her lips together, they made a glowing rosebud in her face. “Well, at least if you ruin your health, you’ll have your friends.”

“Whew,” I said.

But she wasn’t done. Now she was squinting at the bruise on my face. “And where’s that from?”

“I walked into a door.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “I only want to help.”

“Then it’s too bad you weren’t there when I met the door.” Cassidy, who had looked hurt, now looked affronted as well. He was busy, since he had to be affronted for two; Dana wasn’t doing her share. I hadn’t the heart to watch him work so hard for long. “Well, it’s been an interesting day, and I’m past helping, that’s all. I got sunstroke, rode around with a madwoman, square-danced with Jammers, and was spoken to in tongues. Bare civility is the best I can do.”

I spotted my mistake, and cursed myself for a boiled-brained idiot. Dana’s eyes, and Cassidy’s, were opened wide. Cassidy’s lips parted as if there were a membrane of soap between them and he meant to blow it into a bubble. But Dana got the words out first.

“Jammers! Sugar, did they say anything?”

I closed my eyes, took a breath, let it out. “I don’t remember,” I said.

Cassidy shook his head, very grave. “You should try to. Jammers are kind of like holy innocents. They say what the universe wants you to hear.”

My pal, the helpless drunk, wanted to interpret my oracle. Maybe he was giving up on interpreting Dana. I steepled my fingers and studied them, to keep from meeting Cassidy’s eyes, and said brightly, “Is there anyone in this damn place taking orders, or is it help yourself tonight?”