Sam grinned and squeezed Carlotta’s arm.

“Would you like it in the salad?” Sam asked.

“Yes! Won’t that be great?”

Carlotta took the tomato from Rennel and handed it to me. It was small and hard, but probably edible.

“Slice it thin so we can all have some.”

I rinsed it and removed the green at the top. The slices fell cleanly from the knife. The seeds inside were still green. It didn’t matter. I sliced the pieces into the salad pot. Carlotta bent and licked the juice from the counter.

“It’s so good.”

It was good. We smoked a little grass to make us hungry. We listened to the steaks crackling in the broiler. There was hot bread with real butter and the meat fell apart on our tongues. The celery crunched and the tomato melted. Later we filled our mouths with strawberries and white ice cream.

We lay on the floor with the remains of our dinner around us and talked profoundly. Rennel complimented Sam on his serious approach to life. I said I dreamed of a window that looked out on nothing.

Sam said, “If my boy ever asks me why he doesn’t go to school like the other kids, I’ll say ‘School is a place where you walk in, are assigned to a desk, and made to sit there quietly for twelve years.’ That ought to solve the problem.”

Carlotta drank long swallows from a carton of milk. She licked her white mustache and didn’t listen to any of us.

They played their favorite song. I cried a little and wiped my nose on my knee.

Carlotta went to bed. Rennel showed Sam a judo hold, but Sam couldn’t go through it for fear he’d throw his back out. I fell asleep next to the stove.

When I woke it was dawn. Pink light crept in. Rennel sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor. His shirt lay beside him and he watched me gravely as he rolled stomach muscles for me.

“Om,” he said softly. “Om.”

He ignored me when I got up and stretched. I went out the back and crouched to piss in the grass. Not bad, really, with the dew falling pink on my ass. Went into the kitchen and sozzled under the tap. Put water on for tea. Rennel was doing push-ups between the dishes on the floor of the living room.

“How about toast and jam with your tea?” I asked.

He snarled at me and continued his push-ups. Sam came out in his pajamas and took a walk outside. Carlotta followed him out, smiling, puffy in her red dress. I buttered toast and watched the light coming in through the kitchen door.

Sam and Carlotta came back holding hands. I set the tea and toast out on the kitchen table. Carlotta went for her shawl. Rennel sat with us, growling, and chewing antacids.