I said to Q as he got dressed Thursday morning. “Why?” he said. “Because I want to go out with Lucy. It’s the end of term or something at the university, and she says people throw out a lot of good stuff.” “Yeah, well, forget it,” Q said. “I’m playing poker.” “So play another night.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head. “I can’t. This is a lot higher stakes that the quarter games I’ve been playing in. They don’t let new guys in very often.” “I can’t take Dylan with me,” I said. He reached for his sweatshirt, checked to make sure Dylan was still brushing his teeth and pulled me against him. “I keep telling you, you don’t have to go picking through garbage. I mean it.” He kissed the top of my head. “See you tonight.” He called goodbye to Dylan and was gone. I still had half a bread roll sitting on the window ledge. I pounded the roll into crumbs with my fist, pretending it was Q’s head. Then I ate all the little bits. I probably shouldn’t have felt better, but I did.
