Page 36 of Sweet Pea

“I dunno. Because I can, I guess,” he said softly. “You wouldn’t know this, but I don’t typically get so chummy with people I’ve just met.”

“Chummy?” I laughed. “Is that what we are? Chums?”

“Works for me. All I know is, for whatever reason I find it easy to talk to you, and that’s not normal for me.”

“I have to be honest, I don’t see a whole lot of ‘normal’ in your life.”

“Maybe not, but what the fuck is normal, anyway? Is your life normal? It seems to me like you’re just as alone as I am. Maybe your cave downtown is nicer than mine here, but at least mine is free of snakes.”

“Point taken, but I think our list of similarities ends at solitary ‘creatures.’”

“Maybe, maybe not, but I’d like to find out. Lemme make sure everything is squared away here, and then I’ll take you out to lunch.”

“I am starving,” I admitted.

“I would have polished off those leftovers from Sally Anne’s for breakfast,” Sweet Pea said.

“I probably would have, too, if I hadn’t left the bag in the back seat of my Uber.”

“Best tip that lucky sonofabitch got all night.”

It wasn’t the best one I got last night.

---