“That’s awful,” I said.

“That’s awesome,” said Jacob. “A motherfucking polar bear?”

“What happens to the ones he gets rid of?” I said.

Audrey snorted another line and flipped her head up, blinking.

“Fuck,” she said. “Don’t ask me. I never met the bear.”

“Who is this guy?” Jacob said.

“This asshole I met.”

“An asshole who likes polar bears,” Jacob said, impressed. “So it would have to be, what, ten degrees or some shit?”

“What?”

“The room, the room, the fucking room. For the motherfucking polar bears! The room. For the bear. Shit, y’all are high.”

“I hate the cold,” I said. “I hate air-conditioning. I don’t even like fall.”

Jacob said, “Anyway, polar bears aren’t actual bears. It’s a myth.”

“They are, too,” Audrey said. “You’re thinking of panda bears.”

“Or koala bears,” I said.

Jacob looked dejected, then brightened. “Did you hear they discovered a new animal?” he said.

“The rich dude?” I said.

“Not the dude,” Jacob said. “Scientists.”

“What kind of animal?” Audrey said.

“It’s a, like a lobster, except it’s white. And it has hairs on it.”

“Huh,” I said.

“It’s albino,” Jacob said. “And blind.” He lit a cigarette from my pack on the table.

“Where’d they find it?” I said.

“On the ocean floor someplace. It’s supposedly ancient.”

“Then it’s not new,” I said.

“Well, new to us,” he said. “To people.”

“It’s vintage,” I said, giggling.

Audrey stood and stretched. She picked up a CD and set it down.

“I can’t sit still,” she said, pacing the stained carpet. I was having the opposite problem. My pulse was racing but I felt sort of paralyzed on the couch.

“Do you have any more of this stuff?” I asked, holding my glass.

“You’re really cool,” Jacob said, and took the glass into the kitchen.

“Uh, thanks,” I said.

Audrey wandered down the hall and I peeked in the tiny yellowed kitchen, where Jacob was banging around. An old brown stove held a board piled high with appliances: blender, food processor, juicer, an espresso machine, a couple of gadgets I didn’t recognize. Jacob stood at the sink.

“You cook a lot?” I said.

“I like machines,” he said. “That’s awesome you came over.”

I wondered if he sold drugs as a way to get people to hang out with him. I leaned against the wall and immediately stood upright; it was sticky. Jacob wrestled with an oversized carrot, thick and long as my arm.

Audrey appeared in the doorway. “We have to go,” she said.

“Not yet,” Jacob said. “Stay.”

“Sorry,” I told him. I grabbed my sweater and bag and we went out to the car. Now that I was outside I realized how depressing it was in there. Audrey drove back the way we’d come, took a right onto the feeder road, and gained entrance to the freeway. I was still thinking of the sticky wall.

“How do you know that guy?” I said.

“Jacob used to go out with a girl I used to dance with. I never understood why she liked him. Let’s get a drink.”