Indeed the fire was almost extinguished. A minute later a police cruiser showed up at the house; Janet came out, curious and worried. 'Officers?'

'Can we speak to your children, Mrs. Drummond?'

The children? I—'

Sarah spoke up. 'I had an accident, Mom. My science experiment escaped.'

'Science experiment?'

An hour of confusion and technicalities ensued.

'It was my fault,' Wade kept saying. 'I should have been watching more closely.'

'Wade,' Sarah shouted at him, 'stop trying to cover for me. The fire was my fault.'

When Ted got home from work, he was careful to get Sarah's story first.

'Dad, I was looking at your old technical journals, from university when you were studying propulsion. I wanted to do something like that. It was a challenge.'

'You sent a fiery payload up into the sky during peak forest fire season just because I used to study it in college?'

'Yeah.'

Ted grabbed her. 'You are the greatest little princess in the world!' He squeezed her and made her giggle. 'Jan — what's for dinner tonight?'

'I was going to barbecue ..."

'Let's order in pizza for once. And Wade, why don't you choose what kind.' He tickled Sarah's feet. 'You're so lucky to have a big brother to help you on your projects, young lady.'

09

Wade returned to the hotel to check in Janet, but there was no vacancy. 'Mom, share the room here with me and Beth.'

'Dear, I don't want to be a pest.' Janet was lying on the bed, the curtains drawn.

'Mom, you've never been a pest. And it's a good chance for the two of you to get to know each other.'

'I suppose I could.'

Wade sucked in some air: 'Mom, I saw the thalidomide in the bathroom.'

Janet looked up at him. 'Oh?'

'It's OK. I know it's for mouth ulcers.'

'It is.' Janet raised her body and craned her head towards Wade.

Wade sat down on a chair beside the minibar. 'What I'm wondering is where does a person even find thalidomide these days? Do scientists have garage sales? It's — freakish — that anybody's even making the stuff any more. It's creepy.'

'I get it from Brazil, through an underground network. Usually it comes FedEx. Or sometimes through Mexico, but Mexico's a disaster, so Brazil's better. They use it down there for treating leprosy.'

'Leprosy? Seriously?'

'I know. The irony is too rich to ignore. Now they're using thalidomide to prevent people from losing limbs and digits.'

'Huh.' The room was quiet. 'What about Nickie, then?'

'Her being infected?' Janet asked.

'It sounds so bad when you say it like that. But yeah.'

'I have no idea what to say about it, Wade.'

He tossed a foil-wrapped complimentary sachet of decaf coffee grinds back and forth between his hands. 'So are you two friends now?'

'Friends? No. But I don't hate her any more. She's actually a very nice woman.' Janet slumped back onto the bed.

'You OK?'

'Yes, but I need some sleep. The sun here wipes me out. When is Beth returning?'

'No idea. You rest. I'm going to look at the view.'

Wade took the phone out onto the balcony. He sucked in some air and made a call he'd hoped he wouldn't have to make. He dialed an old business acquaintance.

'This is Norm.'

'Norm — it's Wade.'

'Wade Drummond? Well, well — what's up, my man?'

'This and that. I'm a married guy now, Norm. Pretty soon I'll have a kid and a mini van and the whole works.'

'You — a family man?'

'Pffft — all the snowmen in hell melt in a puff of steam.'

'Family's a good thing, Wade.'

'You should see my family. Every single one of us is psychotic.'

'All families are psychotic, Wade. Everybody has basically the same family — it's just reconfigured slightly different from one to the next. Meet my in-laws one of these nights. Where are you phoning from?'

'Orlando.'

'You're in Orlando? Oh, right — your sister's the astronaut. She's amazing.'

They caught up for a few minutes and then came an awkward manly silence.

'Norm. I need money.'

A pause. 'Well, don't we all.'

'I had to get a loan from Tony the Tiger in Carson City, for this fertility clinic that cost a bomb. My wife and me had to go to Europe for this new procedure. Fifty K.'

'Fifty K? What could cost fifty K?'

Might as well jump right in. 'Norm, I'm hiv. This place in Milan takes ejaculate and places it into a centrifuge and the lighter viral particles rise to the top, leaving what remains on the bottom clean.'

Norm was silent. 'OK. Sure. I've heard lots of stories before. That's a pretty good one.'

'It's not a story — it's the truth.'

'But the point remains that you need dough.'

'Yeah.'

'You know how it works, Wade — the greater the risk, the greater the reward.'

'Like I don't know that.'

'How much you need?'

'The fifty K plus another fifty for Tony's interest.'

'That's some risk.'

'It's what I need.'

There was a long silence on Norm's end followed by 'You've actually phoned at a very opportune moment, my man. I could use a courier right about now.'

'Courier?' Wade knew that in the underground labor economy, this was the lowest, most dangerous job level. 'Why not.'

'Tell you what — I'm having a fling with Cheryl. She's in a Pocahontas dance number on Main Street USA over in Disney World.'

'Cheryl?'

'Yes, little Cheryl, and she's still young enough to like older men. Meet me outside the monorail exit at Main Street USA -tomorrow morning, ten on the nose.'

'Disney World? You?'

'Wade, Wade, Wade — nothing bad ever happens in Disney World. It's the only safe place in this fucked-up state. I've had many a meeting there.'

They signed off. Wade stepped back into the room as Beth got in from shopping. After a nap they all ate a calm dinner in the hotel dining room, Janet's treat. Afterwards they went for a walk along International Boulevard, a frustrating experience for Wade, as everything, even the most casual trinket, was so expensive. They went back to the room to watch TV, and Wade once again took the phone out onto the balcony, and this time he rallied all of his nerve and all of his guilty feelings about being a vagrant, useless son, and called his father down in Kissimmee.

'Yeah, hello?'

'Hey, Dad, it's me, Wade.'

Ted's reply gave away nothing: 'Wade.'

'I didn't get much of a chance to talk with you today at Sarah's thing downstairs.'

'Buncha media clowns.'

'It was busy all right.'

'So you're out of jail,' said Ted. 'Good. You're too old for jail. Something kind of sad about a man being jailed after forty, like he's incapable of seeing the big picture.'

'You're looking good.'

'Well, it's not like I deserve to. But Nix tells me I have fortunate bone structure. And I have regular bowel movements, and I have free use of the Y's tanning bed.'

'So, Dad — I heard through the grapevine that maybe you might need some money.'

'What grapevine? My grapevine's my own frigging business.'

'Just thought you might be interested in a scheme I've got to make some quick pocket change.'

Ted went silent.