“God? God? God had nothing to do with cows! Bovines are naturally evolved, just like everything else on this planet.” I shake my head. “God. Santa’s not real, either, in case you were wondering.”

“Naturally evolved, huh? So the way they are now is the way they were meant to be?”

“Exactly.”

She nods and her scarf flutters in the sea breeze. “Well, then, they naturally evolved to taste great with ketchup, so I guess that’s one thing.”

“It’s only because you’ve been conditioned to think so. You were just raised to believe that was okay.”

“Oh, careful, Ty,” she teases me. “That’s what the conservatives say about the gays. Pretty soon, you’ll be sending me off to a conversion camp where I’ll have to pray to beat the meat.”

“You’re impossible!”

“Which you only say when you can’t think of any kind of comeback.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Not for another month,” she says. “You’re stuck with me for now. And I’m going to eat sausage in front of you. So very, very slowly.” She licks her glossy lips, a sweet, little swipe of her tongue.

“I’m driving.”

“I noticed.”

“I don’t know why anyone would want to go back to Tucson voluntarily. I’m pretty sure Arizona is the closest thing to fascism that America still has.”

“It’s home,” she says. “Or as much of a home as it can be. I do miss it sometimes. But I miss the people there more. I had a lot of help when I was a poor, confused little bigender. One friend in particular.”

“But you’re okay now.” I don’t mean it as a question. I reach out and take her hand, curling her fingers in mine.

“Of course,” she says, giving me a beautiful smile. “But he talked some sense into rebellious seventeen-year-old me that I needed to hear at the time. I got everything back on track and am the stunning vision you see before you today because of it.”

I know Kori and Corey had a rough go of it for a while, but I didn’t know how big of a part her friend played in it. She’ll tell me when she’s ready. “And he’s a drag queen? Your friend?”

“Yes, she is. One of the best, even. And that’s saying a lot….”

“I should have been a drag queen,” I sigh. “But then pride happened sophomore year and well… you remember that disaster.” Let’s just say I do not make an attractive woman. There are many gorgeous queens in the world. I ended up looking like duckbilled platypus in a dress and heels.

“It was certainly… interesting.”

“‘Catastrophe’ is a better description, I think.”

Kori squeezes my hand. “The world is definitely lacking without a Minerva Fox. You’ll get to meet her one day, though. And when you see her perform, you’ll be in the presence of a true queen. You guys would really get along, I think. Hell, her friend Paul reminds me of Bear. Same type of open-mouth-what-the-hell-did-you-just-say kind of thing, so you’ll at least be able to commiserate together.”