“What the hell are you talking about? What’s so horrible about this place? Don’t you see that it’s the same all over-that only the scenery changes?”

“So? That’s better than nothing!”

I glanced at the pink sky and shook my head slowly. I looked back down.

“Look,” I said. “How about going into town for a bite and taking in a movie?”

A smile spread over her face like an atomic bomb. I actually felt the heat coming at me.

“Great! Nothing like a little drive to change the mood. Just let me slip into a skirt.”

She took off into the house.

“A skirt? That’s all?” I said.

“Sometimes I wonder if you ever think of anything else…”

I went inside and turned the fire off under the pot. Betty fixed her hair in the mirror. She winked at me. I had the feeling I’d scored a point.

We took Betty’s car, a red VW that burned oil. We parked in the middle of town with one wheel on the curb.

We hadn’t been in the pizzeria five minutes when this blonde walks in and Betty starts jumping up and down next to me.

“Hey, that’s Sonia. HEY, SONIA! OVER HERE!”

The girl in question suddenly moved toward our table, almost knocking the guy behind her off balance. The girls kissed and the guy plunked himself down in front of me. The girls seemed happy to see each other-they held hands. They introduced everybody. The guy let out a sort of mumble. I lost my self in the menu.

“God, let me look at you! You look like you’re in great shape!” said Betty.

“You too, sweetheart! You don’t know how happy I am to see you!”

“Pizza for everybody?” I asked.

When the waitress showed up, the guy seemed to wake up. He took her by the arm and slipped a bill in her hand.

“How much time do you need to make champagne appear on this table?” he asked her.

The waitress looked at the bill without saying a word.

“A little under five seconds,” she said.