Chapter 23

“Yeah?”

“We lie down together on one mattress, share the two blankets, and pull the other mattress on top of us,” Paul said.

“Sounds cozy, let’s give it a shot.”

We stood the one mattress on its side and placed it on top of the other one. Then we wrapped ourselves in the blankets, slid between them, and Paul said, “Well? What do you think?”

“It’s certainly better than nothing.”

“God, you feel good,” he said.

“You too. Smelly, but good. Almost good enough, in fact, to….”

“Very funny,” he said, “and don’t even think about it, at least not until we’ve had a bath.”

“No matter what happens to us,” I said, “just remember one thing—I love you.”

“Ditto,” he said.

“You’ve seen Ghosttoo many times.”

“So I’m not original. So what?”

Surprisingly, we went right to sleep and didn’t wake up until the door banged open the next morning. “What’s this?” Fat Thug said as the top mattress was pulled away.

I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and said, “What?”