Were men really that lonely and misunderstood? Or did they just want to get laid? This was the puzzle, and Sherri made it her mission to figure it out. She’d had no brothers or male friends, and her father, with his girl’s name, had been a sweet and sensitive soul. Men—real men—were as mysterious as the aliens that had scared her to death when she watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Roberta.

She’d waited on her share of lonely men, that was for sure, but then there were the awful guys she’d encountered at bars like Papouli’s. One night, a group of men called Sherri and Ginger over to where they sat. “Hop on over, little bunnies.” One set five crisp twenty-dollar bills on the edge of table. “How about I make it rain?”

Sherri didn’t know what he meant until he blew the bills onto the floor—this was like the grown-up version of the card game taxi she’d played with that little boy in the game room. “It’s all yours if you’ll pick it up on your hands and knees.”

Ginger shrugged. “Easy money.”

“No, I’m not doing that. The floor’s dirty.”

“Tell you what,” Ginger said. “I’ll let you have three and I’ll have two. Then we’ll take ourselves out for a nice dinner.”

Ginger was always in charge. Plus, Sherri was drunk, and the money was enticing, although Sherri felt cheap and humiliated as soon as her hands touched the sticky barroom floor. She felt everyone’s eyes on her backside. The men whistled and pushed the bills farther away with their boots. She hoped nobody who knew the old Sherri would see her like that. Finally, she and Ginger stood up and pocketed the twenties. “Let’s go,” Ginger said, blowing her hair out of her face.

“I don’t even get a thank-you?” The man ran his fat hand over Sherri’s ass. Ginger slapped it and told him to fuck off. He didn’t argue; she was taller and stronger-looking than he was, and the expression on her face could stop the earth from rotating on its axis. Sherri was grateful for Ginger. As long as she was surrounded by her friends, she felt she would always be protected.

“Listen, if they’re stupid enough to part with their money that quick,” Ginger said, “take it.”