Shawn had no idea how long he’d been waiting outside that building before Gus finally came out. All he remembered was a red haze before his eyes that began to dissipate only when he saw his friend come out of the ornate door and turn on his cell phone. That was when he’d decided to make the call.

Now he stood directly in front of Gus and he still didn’t have any idea what he was going to do. He was outraged; he was hurt. But he was still aware enough to realize that he didn’t actually have a real cause for complaint. None that wouldn’t make him look even more foolish than he already felt, anyway.

He ran through his vast memory of movie scenes, trying to find a role model. But he didn’t have a tabletop laser, so the thought of tying Gus down to one seemed terribly impractical. And while the phrase “this matter is best disposed of from a great height-over water” did have a certain ring to it, Shawn’s conspicuous lack of a henchman to say it to robbed it of most of its significance.

Finally he decided to simply say nothing. Let Gus come up with some lame excuse. Then he’d know which way to go.

For a long time Gus chose silence, too, which was definitely not helping Shawn’s strategy. Finally he broke down.

“This is not what you think it is,” Gus said.

Shawn stared at him. “That’s the best you can do?”

“It’s a classic,” Gus said defensively.

“ ‘Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps’ is a classic,” Shawn said. “The kind of line that is so perfect for its setting that it sounds fresh and new in any situation, no matter how many times you’ve heard half-naked teenagers say it before someone sticks a machete through their neck. ‘This is not what you think it is’ isn’t even a cliche. It’s a placeholder. Filler. Because the next line has to be ‘Then what is it?’ And then comes the real excuse.”