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"Fuck!" said Amanda with admiration. "Really?"
"So they had to leave," said Oates. "No water."
"Then we ran out of food and we had to leave too," said Shackie. "We thought maybe they'd be waiting for us, but they weren't." He shrugged. "End of story."
"Why did you come here?" I said. "To Scales."
Shackie grinned. "This place had a reputation," he said.
"A legend," said Croze. "Even though we didn't think there'd be any girls still left in it. We could at least see it."
"Something to do before you die," said Oates. He yawned.
"Come on, Oatie," said Amanda. "Let's put you to bed."
We took them upstairs and ran each of them through a Sticky Zone shower, and they came out a lot cleaner than when they went in. We gave them towels and they dried off, and then we tucked them into beds, one in each room.
It was me who took care of Oates -- gave him his towel and soap, and showed him the bed where he could sleep. I hadn't seen him for such a long time. When I left the Gardeners he was just a little kid. A little brat -- always getting into trouble. That's how I remembered him. But cute, even then.
"You've grown a lot," I said. He was almost as tall as Shackie. His blond hair was all damp, like a dog that's been swimming.
"I always thought you were the best," he said. "I had a huge crush on you when I was eight."
"I didn't know," I said.
"Can I kiss you?" he said. "I don't mean in a sexy way."
"Okay," I said. And he did, he gave me the sweetest kiss, beside my nose.
"You're so pretty," he said. "Please keep your bird suit on." He touched my feathers, the ones on my bum. Then he gave this shy little grin. It reminded me of Jimmy, the way he was at first, and I could feel my heart lurch. But I tiptoed out of the room.
"We could lock them in," I whispered to Amanda out in the hallway.
"Why would we do that?" said Amanda.
"They've been in Painball."
"So?"
"So, all Painball guys are unhinged. You don't know what they'll do, they just go crazy. Plus, they might have the germ. The plague thing."
"We hugged them," said Amanda. "We've already got every germ they've got. Anyway, they're old Gardener."
"Which means?" I said.
"Which means they're our friends."
"They weren't exactly our friends back then. Not always."
"Relax," said Amanda. "Those guys and me did lots of stuff together. Why would they hurt us?"
"I don't want to be a time-share meat-hole," I said.
"That's pretty crude," said Amanda. "It's not them you should be afraid of, it's the three Painball guys who were in there with them. Blanco's not a joke. They must be out there somewhere. I'm putting my real clothes back on." She was already peeling off her flamingo suit, pulling on her khaki.
"We should lock the front door," I said.
"The lock's broken," said Amanda.
