Rodney touched the back of his hand.
“That’s lovely,” Pantomime said. “Why are you going to Washington?”
They both froze. Don shouldn’t have said where they were going. A mistake, a slip of the tongue. Don couldn’t get the words out.
Rodney said, “Something we need to see to.”
She didn’t push. “I hope it’s everything you’ve been looking for.”
Don bristled, a bright burst of anger, unbidden. Or was it? Guilt did that to a person, didn’t it? “We’re not looking for anything. We know what we’re going to find.”
Rodney dropped his hand on top of Don’s. Not as a warning, but to let Don know he was there.
“Okay,” Pantomime said easily, as if they were discussing the weather. “Whatever it is, you’ll succeed. I feel it.”
Don deflated. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped.”
Juniper laughed. “That was you snapping? My guy, you’re allowed. Hell, we all are. What’s the point of knowing the end is coming if you can’t scream and wail about it? I have. Does it help? I don’t know. But I know how I feel when I finish.”
“Better,” Pantomime said.
“Much better,” Juniper agreed. “We got this energy in us, right? Sometimes, it needs to be released before it consumes us. We’re like black holes, in a way. Sucking in all the light and stardust until it has nowhere else to go but out.”
“That’s not how black holes work,” Rodney grumbled.
“Would you like a cookie?” Pantomime asked. “They have THC, but it’s not too strong. I’ve had a couple, and I’m feeling pretty great.” She lifted her legs, flexing her toes. “Better than great, even. I like being alive.”
“I’m glad you do,” Juniper said, his face in her hair. He turned his head slightly to look at Don and Rodney. “What do you think happens next?”
Rodney and Don exchanged glances. Rodney asked, “Next?”
“After we die,” Juniper said. “When the black hole eats the Earth, where do we go?”
Hadn’t they talked about this? For hours and hours and hours. Not because of the black hole, not because the world was ending. No, this came before, when things were somehow worse. Rodney went in circles, one moment believing in the idea of Heaven, the next, saying there was nothing, that it was all empty space where everything was black.
Don didn’t agree, not quite. He wasn’t sure about the idea of Heaven—it sounded like an exclusive club that could turn away anyone for any reason. Granted, the alternative—if one believed such things—was downstairs where it got a little hot. But if the religious version of what came next was wrong, what did that mean? Where would they go? Andwhatwould go? The soul—who even knew what that was. Perhaps it was the mind, the consciousness. Would the body be there?
Don said, “I don’t know.”
Juniper shrugged. “That’s fair. I think it’s all about energy. Each of us has this energy, coded deep within us, something from the universe, like a little fire being lit. Some burn brighter than others, but that’s the way of things. And when it’s our time to go, our energy returns to where it came from. Little streaks of light, like a comet.” He chuckled. “Can you imagine what it’s going to be like when all of us go at the same time? That much energy released into the universe? Man, I’d love to see that. I bet it’s going to be brighter than the sun.”
“Why?” Don asked. “Why do you think that?”
Pantomime smiled. “Because we’re scared.”
Pantomime brought them weed cookies. One each, with strict instructions to eat half and then wait to see how they felt beforedeciding if they wanted the other half. Peanut butter, little fork marks across the top. They looked significantly more edible than the muffins they’d been given before they departed.
“When was the last time we got stoned?” Don asked Rodney as the Bee Gees began singing about stayin’ alive.
Rodney turned the cookie over in his hands. “Not since the nineties.”
Don nodded. And then, without thinking too much about it, broke the cookie in half and shoved it in his mouth. He chewed furiously, swallowing it down as best he could before he changed his mind.
Rodney sighed.
Don set the other half of the cookie on his lap. “Well, then. That’s that.”
“Last time we smoked,” Rodney said, “you thought the Queen of England was coming over. That apartment we had, remember? The one with the hot water that never worked. You spent almost an hour being mad we didn’t have any tea. You said that we were probably going to be executed.”