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“Yeah, why would you possibly pick Alice in Wonderland?”
“Oh. Right.”
She pulls me closer.
“You know I love you, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you need to stop goddamn obsessing all the time. I’m dead. Boo-hoo. You’re Sandman Slim. Boo-hoo. The universe is a lot bigger than us.”
I shake my head. Reach for a cigarette. She lets go so I can lean forward and grab the lighter.
“I know all that. But a lot of little stuff still hurts like Hell.”
“You’re telling me? I’m the one who got a knife in the back.”
She says it right after I light up. I try to move away, but she holds on to me.
“That’s really what happened?”
“Yeah. You’ve got to give Mason credit for that. Sending Parker to do it fast. The guy knew how to do it. I hardly felt a thing.”
“If you know that, then this isn’t a dream.”
“Maybe not a hundred percent. But it’s still a dream.”
“For a long time I was afraid of knowing what happened to you.”
“Gee, I hadn’t noticed. Now you do know. It’s time to get your ass past it.”
I take a drag off the cigarette. She takes it from my hand and puffs. Hands it back to me. Her fingertips are blue to the point of almost being black. They don’t look like a living person’s hands.
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“I don’t know what to do next.”
Alice punches me on the arm.
“Were you even listening to the crossword, dumb-ass? It’s all finally happening. What you knew was going to happen. You can either keep watching movies until the sun burns out or you can stop running from who you are. You’re Sandman Slim, goddammit. You’re that or you’re nothing. Your choice.”
“Isn’t there a curtain number three? I don’t mind a year’s worth of Turtle Wax.”
“Sorry. The money’s all down. Betting is closed. Play or walk away.”
I nod toward the crossword puzzle on the table.
“What’s with the hen scratching? I can’t read a damned word.”
She glances at the crossword and shakes her head.
“It’s a puzzle. You’re supposed to figure it out. That’s why they call it a puzzle.”
“How?”
“Once again, it’s called a puzzle for a reason.”
“Okay.”
