Roy squeezed her shoulders. “So, what did you think, anyway. About the book?”

Wendy wished she had more wine or more pot to smoke. It was unavoidable now. She’d have to say something.

“I only skimmed it sort of partially. I noticed there were lots of factual things about space. Words I didn’t recognize.” Was she slurring? “I thought you hated research.”

“I do,” Roy harrumphed. She’d only skimmed it? “But Google makes it so easy. Scientists are quite serious about us colonizing Mars. I didn’t want to offend them. Did you know the atmosphere there is full of water? NASA’s got this system called MOXIE to extract it and in the process they can produce oxygen for the people to breathe and to oxygenate the rocket fuel. And if we have water and oxygen, we can probably grow things. There’d be no meat, maybe just grasshoppers and root vegetables and that sort of thing.”

Wendy felt guilty that she hadn’t tried to read the draft more carefully. Roy was so excited.

“I gave it to Jefferson. He thinks it’s genius.”

“Yes, he’s rather Sheffield United. And I’m quite chuffed. But you only skimmed it.”

“I like the idea of turning pee into water,” Wendy said, her eyelids drooping.

Roy blanched and stepped away from her so that she staggered backward. Was she making fun of him?

“It’s rubbish, isn’t it? I should toss it and give up. Maybe I can get a job as a barkeep or something.”

Wendy pressed her spine against the bricks of the garden wall in an attempt to maintain her dignity. “I don’t know, Roy. I’ve drunk too much wine and I smoked pot out of a pipe and I have to confess I’ve never fully been able to read any of your books.”

Roy stared at her. “Not even Orange?”

Wendy’s gaze shifted to the upstairs window. There was no movement on the bed now, just a big lump. Then the lump reared up and she averted her eyes.

“Also, I got fired from Fleurt. I work for another magazine now. It’s called Enjoy!. It’s a huge demotion and not even permanent. I’m covering for someone on maternity leave. Oh, and the pay is shit. It’s a magazine for people who don’t mind spending an entire day at Macy’s. But I like it.”

“Hey, excuse me.”

It was Stuart Little, prowling around in the grass near the Latin teacher. “Sorry to interrupt, but have either of you seen a skateboard? I’m pretty sure I left it right here.”

“Our place is just down Kane, left on Cheever,” Mandy told Peaches.