In the street in front of Circus Circus, an engine roared, and then brakes screeched. A deep purple Shelby Cobra turned through a bottleneck of parked cars before speeding up again. "Can't really get up to speed with all these cars," Tallahassee said.

"Maybe not, but this is so fun!" Little Rock said, reaching out to feel the wind between her fingers.

"Better pull back, we got another squeeze coming..."

"I bet Krista's having a great time," Little Rock said. Tal smiled, but the look in his eyes was wistful.

Heads turned as Columbus and Wichita descended the escalators from the promenade to the main corridor. Wichita waved and smiled. Her husband, who wore a suit that the Circus had provided to him for board meetings, just smiled, with frequent glances at his wife. She looked beautiful in the outfit, and indeed she bore a reasonable resemblance to the Hep original. But, he could see cracks forming in her smile. "Let's sit down for a while," he said. "How about lunch at THE Steakhouse?"

THE Steakhouse (caps original) was reckoned the best of the Circus's generally mediocre selection of restaurants. They had only eaten there once before, and it had been expensive; and Wichita would have been happier to stop at Mexitalia on the Promenade, but then, she couldn't be Hep if she stopped for take-out spaghetti, could she? And her Austin looked so woefully awkward in his suit that she felt a yearning to put him back in jeans and give him a beer. But, ever the hero, however reluctant, he was pushing ahead with the show.

There was a smattering of applause as they stepped into the restaurant, and Wichita smiled and waved with renewed enthusiasm. They were fast-tracked for seating, and so they were very shortly at their table, fumbling for small talk. "So, uh, Tal's gift looked nice," Columbus managed. "Uh, your gift, I mean. Uh, it's a good gun. Um. And my gift, uh, well, maybe we should, um, read the manual some time." He fell silent as a gloved hand touched his cheek.

"I love you... so much," Krista said.

Austin had one of his usual "deer in headlights" moments. Then he said in an impressive recovery, "I love you, too."

They split a steak, of no more than fair size and with more than a bit of fat and gristle but worth as much as a goodly number of Wichita's pearls in the post-apocalyptic economy, rationalizing it aloud as romantic. Her gloves proved a little clumsy for the work, so Columbus had to do most of the cutting. About two-thirds of the way through the meal, she intervened, wresting the knife away. "Austin, look, you're cutting right into a tendon, and you should be doing it like-" As she spoke, a glove tore.

There was a moment of silence, that did not break when she pulled off the torn glove. But then she swore explosively as she threw the glove to the floor. She rose to her feet so fast and forcefully her chair rocked back on its hind legs, and with an even louder and fouler curse, she cast down her pearls with enough force to scatter them. Then she stalked swiftly out, or at any rate as swiftly and as close to stalking as she could manage on wobbly stilletto heels.

Austin looked after her, looking very sad but somehow not surprised. Then eyes turned from his departing spouse back to him. "Um. Doggy bag, please?"