I took my chances, bolted across the hall and slipped into my room.

I sat at my desk and thought about what Wheeler had told me. Too much. Somehow I knew it was true though. Everything was turning out to be lies and misunderstandings.

Then I saw it.

At first I mistook it for a rolled-up sock. But it moved. Under my bed, looking me straight in the eye, was a mouse. Got on my hands and knees to get a better look. The mouse saw me and scampered into the closet. I crawled after him and almost died. In my closet, beside the mouse, beneath my shirts, was a pair of legs. In the dim light they looked like ape’s legs. An equally furry hand reached down and scratched the ankles. That’s when I heard an unmistakable sound. Whatever was hiding in my closet had just farted. I noticed a knapsack lying on the floor.

“DeCenz?”

He peered out from between my shirts. The mouse scooted out of the closet and hid back under the bed.

“Yeah, Dunph, it’s me. I didn’t hear you come in.” He smiled. “You hear me rip one?”

“What are you doing here?” I said, holding a hand to my chest. “You scared the living shit out of me.”

DeCenz picked up his bag and came out of the closet, still scratching his legs. “What do you mean, what am I doing here? I been driving all night, you could give me a better greeting than that.”

I couldn’t muster one, though, and luckily DeCenz sneezed.

“I just died,” he said.

“What?”

“I just died. Whenever you sneeze, your heart stops and you die for a second.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, that’s why you bless people when they sneeze. ’Cause they were just dead.” He pulled a bag of weed out of his top pocket. “Got any papers?”

“No,” I said. “I quit smoking.”

“Why’d you do that for?”

“I’m gonna take the summer off. No pot, no booze—except for weekends I’ll drink a little beer, and on Thursdays.”

“You’re crazy, man. We’re going to the tequila capital of the world and—”

“I’m not going to Arizona,” I blurted.

“What you talking about?”

No reply.

“Dunph, don’t give me this, man. We’re going, right?”

I looked at him and he knew I wasn’t.

DeCenz gawked at me for a second and then threw down his bag. “I knew this would happen,” he said. “I fucking knew it.”

“Things change.”

“Things change all right. You know you’re jamming me?”

“What, am I ruining your getaway?”

“Dunph,” DeCenz whined, “don’t do this. We’re going. I got to go.”

“Give me a break.”

“You gonna fuck Jack too?”

“I don’t think Jack’s going,” I said.

“God, I can’t believe what a traitor you are.”

“You got it wrong, DeCenz. If I were a traitor, I’d go.”