“Looks like an important artifact,” Helena said. “A trash bin.”

“The search for knowledge sometimes craps out.” I shrugged.

“What about you and Alex?” she asked. “Was that a search for knowledge too?”

She wanted me to be surprised by the question. Thanks to the parrot, I wasn’t. “I don’t know what it was with Alex,” I answered honestly. “Just one of those things. I was feeling pretty needy at the time.”

Her thoughts shouted, “Selfish bitch!” but aloud she said, “Your needs aren’t Alex’s needs.”

“I didn’t hear him protesting,” I replied. But my background chorus told me I knew that was no excuse.

“Alex is a sixteen-year-old in a twenty-five-year-old’s body,” Helena said. “He’s not going to fight off any woman. He may even initiate the... festivities. He may have initiated things with you, I don’t know — the starlight wasn’t quite bright enough for me to see.”

“I don’t know who initiated what,” I told her.

“The point is, Alex is a little boy who never grew up.” She faked a laugh. “Do you realize that he proposed to me after our first night together? He thought it was required, the only gentlemanly thing to do after ravishing me. He has this terribly constricted background... I bet he was too shy to take off his shirt, right?”

“True.” And I was glad he didn’t. If unbuttoning his shirt released the Singer...

“He’s so unsophisticated,” Helena said, nodding, “and that’s why there’s a problem. I’m a broad-minded woman, I don’t own him...” Her thoughts yelled, “He’s mine!” and added softly, “Why can’t he just be mine?” She put on a brittle smile and said, “Alex can’t handle the complications of dealing with both of us. Someone like Roland...” I picked up a snap memory of Helena in bed with Roland. Well, well. “Roland wouldn’t get hung up about an idle one-night stand. He’s not one to confuse sex with loyalty. But Alex... he confuses easily. You see?”