For once, Donna didn’t have a snappy comeback. She pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side, looking at him thoughtfully. “That’s a good point,” she said.

“Thank you.”

“Not good enough to make me want to stay here, but it’s a good point.”

He shook his head. “So what do you suggest we do? Move to Alpha Centauri? It’ll be just as full of idiots as America within a decade.”

“I bet it’ll take longer than that. It’s a whole planet, after all.”

“Maybe. But still, that’s where everybody’s going.”

The waitress finally showed up with their beer. Trent’s was considerably darker than he’d hoped, and when he tasted it, the intense bite of hops nearly made him choke. “Damn,” he said after she’d gone. “About the only thing this stuffs got going for it is it’s strong.”

“My, but you’re in a cranky mood today, aren’t you?”

“Gettin’ blown into a launch crater does that to a guy.”

“You know what I think? I think sittin’ around on your butt all day does that to a guy. You haven’t been happy since, hell, I don’t know how long. Certainly not since since the Palkos cancelled their house contract.”

“Considerin’ that was my last paycheck, I imagine you’re not too far off.”

She looked down at the tabletop.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “I’m not pissed about that.”

She raised her head again, and her eyes were glistening. “How about if I lost my job?”

“Huh?”

“Would you be pissed if I lost my job?”

Donna worked in a jewelry store in the White Mountain Mall; probably the most stable job in America at the moment. People were dropping their money into gold and gems as fast as they could, before the value of the paper dropped all the way to zero. Donna only worked three days a week, but her job was why they were still able to eat out once in a while.