“I figured,” Gilpatrick said. He saw the alarm flash in the kid’s eyes. So easy to read. “Your generation is usually doing stuff online. Streaming, gaming, web pages.”

“And people your age call them web pages,” the kid snarked, his smile turning up only one corner of his mouth. He’d let that alarm slip away, now that the contract was established. That Gilpatrick would support the illusion.

It was never a full smile from the teenager. Like he was always a bit guarded, or reserved.

Gilpatrick flipped through the big book of art that was in arm’s reach. The big painting on the next page was like a hole in reality, and through that hole he could see more nebula, more stars, more of the banded triple-helix, except something was tearing its way through the helix now. A steady, rolling explosion.

He watched as it progressed.

“Your girlfriend is beautiful,” the teenager said, quiet.

Gilpatrick drew in a deep breath.

“Thank you. But why bring her up?” he asked the teenager, giving the boy a hard look. As hard as any look he ever gave him, knowing it might scare him, terminating this conversation. The awkward segue felt like it might break this spell. Too guarded. But letting that slide wasn’t an option either. Because he was genuinely unsure what the boy had meant, bringing that up, and there was no way to navigate the conversation ahead without clarifying.

“Oh. No, just… good for you, man. I didn’t mean—”

You didn’t mean to threaten her by bringing her up. I know now.

Gilpatrick smiled. “You’re fine. She’s special. Makes me feel like I’m something more. Like I belong in this world. Really, I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

I don’t know what I will do without her. We won’t be together in five years.

“Really cool,” the kid said.

Again, that look in his eyes.

“Do you have that? A person, place, goal?”

The kid crossed his arms. Guard up, the look deepening. He looked to either side. Considering escape routes, now.

Pushed too hard.

But he wants to have this conversation as badly as I do. Or he’d be gone already.

“For me, you know, getting out on the water, canoeing up the lake with my friend or girlfriend, it keeps me going when work gets tough. I’ve been tearing down my grandparents’ house now that they’re gone, but that’s work that’s too cold to do in winter, too hot in summer.”

He knew he was rambling.

But… carrying the conversation further from that hard push. And mentioning things he’d mentioned before, in prior run-ins.

“There’s a music event this summer I’m looking forward to,” the teenager said.