Rack sighs. “It sucks.” She holds her beer bottle up to her lips and blows a long, sad note. “Never have sex, Serena,” she says. “It’s kind of … this lie.”

She concentrates on picking fuzz balls off her socks.

I clear my throat. “What do you mean, it’s a lie?”

“Oh, it’s not that big of a deal.” She checks her watch. “It’s just another stupid promise that stupid people believe in until they learn. You know what I mean?”

I don’t, but I nod. Grimshaw’s been with a lot of guys. But I don’t know if she took any of it as a promise or a lie. She seems happiest now, actually, staying with Angel on Main Street without any boyfriend at all. If she gets out of the junkyard and off the hill, maybe that’s as big as her dream needs to get.

“Well, shit,” Rack sighs. “What are we going to do with this damn thing?”

We look at the dentures, each take our last big swig of beer, and then look back at each other. We start laughing at the same time. Suds come out of my nose and Rack’s nose, and we sit there laughing, holding the rest of the beer in our mouths until it foams out between our fingers. I manage to swallow mine and keep laughing. Then I realize she isn’t laughing anymore. She’s crying. She’s sobbing into her hands with her elbows on her knees. I don’t really know what to do, so I get off the drum and sit on the bucket seat next to her. I touch her knee.

“I’m really sorry,” I tell her. “About Junior and everything.”

“Oh my God, Serena,” she wails. “I am so stupid. I am such a jerk. I wish someone would hit me on the head with this beer bottle.” She starts hitting her forehead with the butt of the beer bottle. Drops of foam fly out. “I am the stupidest cow alive.” I watch her bang herself on the head until it occurs to me to hold her hand and take the bottle away. She lets me do it and then collapses with her forehead on her knees, crying and crying.

“You’re not stupid.” At first I sound sort of doubtful, like I’m not really sure it’s true. I’m the one who sounds stupid.

“Yes, I am stupid,” she insists angrily. “I am a dumb fucking cow. You’re the smart one.” She stops crying and just sits there miserably, waiting for me to say something.