From beyond the aquarium, through the glass and over the river, New Jersey flickered. These faraway and nearer blobs of light shimmered as indicators of residence, infrastructure, and commerce. They came together and were pressed flat by the wall-sized pane. He and Mitchell caught each other’s eye. Mitchell winked.

Alfonzo didn’t want a fight, or at least that’s what he told himself, but because of school, or grief that always turned into vexation, an argument was an easy garment to slip into. What did it mean to be good in this rotten society?

“What about fish?” Alfonzo asked.

The cat, smirking, settled down on his paws so that they disappeared beneath his warm orange chest. “Anyone can join if they open themselves to the process. The Good Boys have nothing against the water beings, provided they come in with an open heart. You’ve got to ask, is it really us who have shut them out? Or have they closed themselves off from us?”

Despite his projection of confidence, Miles’s hair was bristled up. He was clearly restraining some violent impulse with regard to the alpaca. “See, Al, under the method, you would come to see that your sarcasm is just your inner bad dog barking. It’s maladaptive.”

“Fish could already be Good Boys, Alfonzo! You don’t know!” Dawn pressed her chin against her long brown-and-white neck. Tears had sprung into her big Bambi eyes.

“Look how you treat your friends.” Miles meowed.

Dawn raised herself upright. She was taller and longer than Alfonzo, with fine reddish hair and a sculptural body. Alfonzo felt squat and dark and knock-kneed under her gaze. He felt ashamed, but also a little impressed by how badly he’d mucked up this situation. She tossed her head and glared at him.

“To find yourself is a struggle, Alfonzo. Before the method, I had a pack of inner wolves chasing me every moment, trying to drive me ever deeper into the woods of self-hatred. You want to twist it against the sea, but I don’t accept your premise. Good Boys aren’t like that.

“I was born a part of a herd, but I also had to find my joy pack. Maybe you want to wallow in the olden days and only see others’ faults and weaknesses. But I want to spring into the future. The method works. I’ve seen the shiny coat of success. I’ve seen all kinds of beings gleam, okay? Not because they’re rich or famous, but because they’ve learned.

“Happiness is about learning to catch whatever life throws at you.”

Alfonzo spent the day after Dawn’s party curled fetal in his musky hay, wondering if he’d ever been so crucially hungover.

HORSE AND SPARROWS

10.