(xcvii)


We talk in the past tense: she about the old man, I about the old lady. “The bitch left me for an NMR,” I say. She thinks this is hilarious.

“So what do you do?” she asks. “I mean, is this all you do? or what?”

I shrug. “I can sing. I can dance. I'm a mathematical genius.”

“Oh,” she says.

“I'm just kidding,” I say. “I can't dance.”