Chapter 16

“You find what I said amusing?” John asked. “Or are they playing cartoons in the washroom?”

The man, still chuckling, lifted his head and John couldn’t tell if it was just the lighting, or natural highlights that put the licks of fire-kissed colours in the man’s otherwise brown hair—so similar to his own, and yet it managed to look about a thousand times better on everybody else. “I do,” the man said. “Find it amusing, I mean. But also, admirable.”

John tilted his head and eyed the man’s palm when it was offered for a handshake. “A: did you wash your hands, B: why so, and C: hello, I’m John.”