Dara was out on deck now with Helene; Billy stood at the bow watching Xavier sweep broken glass into the sea, talking to him. Dara saying Billy surprised her; he was so cool the way he pulled it off, putting the rifle in Kwame’s hands. “I never know who he’s gonna be,” Helene said. “Sometimes he’s Sterling Hayden with his precious bodily fluids.” “Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove,” Dara said. “I thought it was a terrific picture when I first saw it. It’s still good, but you can see everybody playing their parts.” “Ones they don’t usually play,” Helene said. “They’re having fun and don’t care if you know it. It’s easy to fake things.” “What does he know about Aphrodite?” “Everything. Like there are only five ports in the United States that take that kind of ship. I looked it up for him. You have to sit out in the water a long time before they let you tie up. Then you have to hook up lines to take the gas off the ship to wherever they store it. Any leaks out and hits the ground you’re fucked.”
