I’d guessed his height right in the bar, but he was heavier and stronger than I expected.

“I’m busy. Get lost.” I wrenched my arm away from him.

“Calm down, baby. I’ll bet you’d like to get high. Come with me. I’ll get you anything you want.”

“I told you no.” He blocked my way to the door.

“Cocaine, baby? How about that?”

“Fuck off.”

“Snort some coke, take off your clothes, take some pictures. That’s what you like, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know why you’re bothering me, but there’s going to be big trouble if you don’t get out of here right now.” Then, if that didn’t sound tough enough, I slapped him.

He rubbed his cheek. “I saw the photo you have. I saw you looking at it. I know what you’re into.”

A couple of giggling teenage Korean girls came out the door and walked between us, a blast of icy air rushing out.

He took a step toward me as though he would follow me inside, but more teenage girls came streaming out the door, separating us.

“You fucking dyke,” he snarled over the heads of the schoolgirls. “We’ll see each other again.”

“I can hardly wait.”

Then I went into the Happy Times Lanes and found the ladies’ room. I washed my face, examining it as I dried it with a scratchy paper towel. I didn’t like that he’d called me a dyke. It was, I guessed, a generic epithet, like cunt. I put on some lipstick. My breathing began to return to normal. My life had gotten strange since I met Monica Fullbright.

I went out and took a seat at a small table in the bar that was between the shoe rental and a room of video games. The video games sounded like atomic bombs. This was exactly why I had chosen the bowling alley. I wanted a private place for the chat I was going to have with Monica Fullbright, yet one that was public with enough background noise to give her trouble if she was trying to tape our conversation. The bar was nearly full, and a cable channel was running the races from Del Mar.

The waitress, a tall Korean in a beaded angora sweater, came over. I ordered a Mai Tai. Back at the bar I saw her place a glass under a dispenser on top of a metal plate with a computer keyboard. She hit a few panels, and fruit juice poured into the glass. The machine made a mean Mai Tai.