Busted – The Game Show

© Justin Cumberland 2007

Chapter Thirty-One

Jason couldn’t watch the tapes. He tried. But it wasn’t possible. He could watch the first three. He could watch himself; but he couldn’t watch Todd. Jason saw them tie Todd up for Butcher-Shop and decided to turn it off. He couldn’t watch it. It was too much, and Todd, certainly, wouldn’t have wanted it.

But he remembered something then. Something that Todd had said to him. Sometime during the day Todd had said to him, ‘Do you know what it’s like to be alone, Jase?’

‘Sure I do.’

‘Do you know what it’s like to have no one, Jase?’

Jason shrugged his shoulders.

‘Do you know what it’s like to understand something when no one else understands? When no one else will listen? Do you know what it’s like to see things? To see things change? Do you know what it’s like to watch the frames?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about?’

‘Do you what it’s like to be frozen, Jase? To be in the darkness for a thousand years? To be in the darkness, alone, with no one, for thousands of years? Can you imagine that?’

Jason frowned.

‘Try to, Jase. When you think of me, try to. Because I don’t want to stay here anymore. I came on here because of you; and I don’t want to go back there alone. I don’t want to go back there at all.’

‘Where?’ Jason said.

‘To the darkness, Jase. It’s all very well being a light. But it’s not much fun being a light in the darkness – not when you’re alone.’

Jason watched the tapes. He made himself. And somehow, before dawn, he fell asleep.

[Frame: Spatial modification. Temporal alteration.]

When he woke in the morning it was seven, maybe, and Todd was knocking on the door. He always came round in the mornings to watch cartoons. He and Jason were friends. They had ever been friends.

Jason didn’t question the yellowness of the door. He didn’t question the frosted panes of glass. He didn’t question the house which was wooden, though he had lived yesterday in a plasterboard house. And he didn’t question the fact that Todd was there, though he was yesterday dead.

‘Is there cake?’ Todd said.

‘Of course there’s cake.’ There was always cake. He didn’t bake it. He hadn’t bought it. But if he’d asked himself where the cake came from Jason would have had to reason; and he would have known the answer. He would have baked it, or he would have bought it, or someone would have baked or bought it, from a town which would be nearby, though he was in a forest, seemingly nowhere, near a town which would have to exist, out of necessity, even if only for the cake alone.

Things had to make sense.

Todd laughed. ‘That’s for you,’ he said.

‘I don’t want cake. I just got up.’

‘You should have some,’ Todd said.

‘But I don’t want any.’

‘Still, you should just have it. It’ll probably be hippopotamus flavored, or something. He’s doing it for you. You fucking got to him, Jase. He fucking listened to you! That’s fucking huge!’ Todd pushed past him and stepped into the room. ‘Wow!’ he said. ‘Oh fucking wow! It’s the house, Jase!’

‘Of course it’s the house.’

Todd shook his head and looked around the cavernous room. There were high exposed beams running the length of the ceiling and a spread of steps which led down into the living room. Beyond the windows there, the forest was visible, raining morning light on the polished wooden floor.

It was Jason’s house. He had always lived here.

‘I haven’t been here for fucking ever,’ Todd said.

‘You were here yesterday, Todd.’

‘Was I?’ Todd frowned. ‘Is it gonna be okay, Jase?’

‘What?’

‘Where’s the cake?’

‘In the pantry. It’s fresh. I baked it yesterday.’

‘You baked it?’

‘Of course I did,’ Jason said. He always baked the cakes.

‘What sort of a cake is it?’

Jason sucked his lips in and pulled his head back a bit. ‘It’s chocolate,’ he said, frowning. Did he just make that up?

‘Is that the best you could come up with?’

‘I don’t have a lot of ingredients, Todd.’

‘But where did you get them from?’

‘I got them from the town.’

‘Oh, are you gonna put the town there?’

‘What? Of course I’m gonna put it there. What do you mean am I gonna put it there? How could I put it there? The town’s there. The town’s always been there. Fuck, Todd, you’re doing my head in!’

‘Is it gonna be the same?’

‘What?’

‘As it used to be?’

‘What?’

‘Don’t worry.’

‘How do you get to the town, Jase?’

‘I walk.’

‘It’s a long way to walk.’

‘I’ve got a car.’

‘Oh yes! What type of car have you got?’

‘It’s a…it’s in the garage, Todd. Stop asking me so many questions.’

‘Can I have a look at it?’

‘Sure you can.’

‘I’ll come back and tell you what it is, right?’

Jason shrugged. ‘I’ll come out with you.’

Todd put a hand on his chest. ‘No. Stay here. I’ll come back in and I’ll tell you what it is. Don’t think about it.’

Jason stopped and looked around him at the room. It was wood. Everything was wood. The walls were wood. The ceiling was wood. The floor was wood. It was enormous. There were windows in the ceiling and columns of cathedral light were flowing onto the floor.

He had always lived here and he was wearing a nightshirt. Why was he wearing a nightshirt? He always wore nightshirts. They were comfortable. And he never wore any jocks underneath them, of course, because that was unhealthy. Wasn’t it? Why would it be unhealthy? He frowned.

‘How can you afford a fucking Alfa Romeo?’ Todd said, bursting into the room. ‘You’ve got a fucking Guilietta and it’s nineteen seventy-eight.’

‘What?’

Todd was wearing flared jeans. He was wearing a little striped T-shirt and his hair was longer. His hair hadn’t been that long a moment ago? Of course it had. Todd always wore his hair like that. Jason just hadn’t looked at it properly before. He was kid with blond hair and he had gym shoes on. It was nineteen seventy-eight.

‘We should go for a drive, Jase.’

‘Later, Jason said.’

‘Have you got a license?’

‘Of course I’ve got a license. Do you want to watch cartoons?’

‘What’s gonna be on?’

‘I don’t know – Dragonball Z.’

‘Did they have that in nineteen seventy-eight?’

Jason shrugged. What? ‘What do you mean did they have it?’ Jason stepped down into the living room and flicked on the TV. It was Dragonball Z. ‘It’s on,’ he said, calling out as though he hadn’t just been speaking to Todd. ‘Dragonball Z’s on, Todd.’

‘What?’ Todd said, stepping down into the room. ‘It’s on?’

‘Of course it’s on.’ It was always on in the mornings. He had dreamt the dreams.

‘I want the cake,’ Todd said.

‘Cake?’

‘A bit of your birthday cake.’

‘I’ll get it,’ Jason said.

He walked to the pantry which was as familiar as it had always been – and not. Reality in a day constructed. The cake was in a blue anodized tin. It had ‘CAKE’ written on the outside of it. Jason picked it up.

He took it out to the kitchen and opened the lid. It was green, of course. It was a lime cake.

‘It’s lime,’ Jason said.

Todd stepped up into the kitchen. It was all one room – a huge big rectangle with paned windows, separated by steps and surrounded by forest. The light was shifting outside and Todd stared at Jason. ‘I thought it was chocolate.’

‘No. It’s lime.’

‘Lime? Where the hell did you get that from?’

‘I baked it.’

‘You didn’t bake it, Jase. It doesn’t even look real.’

‘It looks like a cake,’ Jason said. It was what cakes looked like.

‘Is it plastic?’

‘Of course it’s not plastic. I baked it.’

‘Where did you get the limes from?’

‘From the lime tree.’

‘Have you got a lime tree?’

‘I’ve got an orchard, Todd.’

‘Oh, the little fucking orchard! I forgot about that. Can we walk down there, Jase? Can we walk down there later?’

‘You don’t have to ask me, Todd. You can just go.’

‘Yeah, but can we go there together? Will you promise me? Say that we will.’

‘Of course, Todd. We’ll go.’

Todd frowned. He was staring at the cake. ‘You know, Jase. I don’t think limes are a real fruit.’

‘Of course they’re real.’

‘Yeah, but…I don’t think…There weren’t any limes before now.’

‘They’re green,’ Jason said. ‘They’re like a lemon.’

‘Yeah, I know. I can see it. But they don’t seem quite real, do they?’

Jason thought about it. What the fuck was a lime? Where the fuck did limes come from? They had always been around. They had to have been. Of course they had. He just hadn’t thought about them lately. He had picked some yesterday. He had thought about them then. He had baked the cake. He could remember doing it right when…“and now it’s time for Handyman” a voice said.

Jason bent his head forward and swallowed.

‘I feel sick,’ he said, making a sour face. ‘Something just…’

‘I’m sorry, Jase,’ Todd said. ‘I’ll stop it.’

‘It’s not you.’

‘I’ll stop asking questions. I’ll stop interfering. I’ll just wait.’

Jason nodded. He knew what Todd meant. Somehow, he knew what Todd meant. He looked up and smiled, suddenly forgetting all about his sickness – all about the limes and the orchard – all about the voice.

‘Do you want a piece of cake?’

Todd nodded.

‘It’s lime,’ Jason said.

‘Oh fuck,’ Todd said. ‘This is really hard.’

Jason put a piece on a plate.

‘Do you want a cake fork?’

‘A cake fork! – sorry, Jase. Yes, I want a cake fork, whatever the fuck that is.’

Jason opened the cutlery draw. ‘It’s a bit like a splade,’ he said. ‘But there’s no spoonishness to it. And it’s little.’

He held it out to Todd and Todd took it. ‘What are you supposed to do with it? – Sorry Jase, but he isn’t making it sensible for me. I don’t understand.’

Jason cut himself a slice and demonstrated the use of the fork. It was quite simple really. Todd had to admit that. ‘You have to admit it, don’t you, Todd?’

‘Of course,’ Todd said, forking the cake into his mouth. ‘It’s the most natural thing in the world. Oh fuck!’ Todd said, coughing suddenly. ‘It tastes like shit.’

‘What?’

‘It literally tastes like shit.’

‘It’s lime,’ Jason said. ‘That’s the flavor.’

‘This is just fucking cruel,’ Todd said, chewing. He looked up at the ceiling and spoke to it. ‘You’re not even funny. You can’t leave me in a different fucking day.’

‘Do you like it?’ Jason said.

‘It’s great, Jase. It’s the best cake.’

‘I made it myself.’

‘I bet you did. It’s your birthday cake.’

Jason frowned. ‘It’s not my birthday, Todd.’

‘Yesterday,’ Todd said.

‘It was birthday on Friday. I was fifteen. I got a card from my parents.’

‘What?’

Jason started choking. Todd walked around the bench. He was chewing and didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry. He hit Jason between the shoulder blades with the side of his fist.

Jason spat cake.

‘Did you swallow any?’

Jason nodded.

‘I don’t think it’s gonna do anything. It’s too obvious. He hates the fucking obvious. I’m gonna spit it out.’

Todd leant over the sink and spat and Jason realized that he’d been chewing a lizard. The lizard unfolded out of Todd’s mouth and plopped into the sink.

‘Oh, just stop it would you?’ Todd said, turning around and jumping up and down, shaking his head like his whole body was cold.

‘Is it okay?’ Jason said.

Todd shook his head. ‘It’s not fucking okay, Jase. It’s fucking cruel.’

‘Did you chew it?’ Jason walked over to the sink. The lizard looked fine. ‘It’s okay, Todd. I’ll put it outside.’ Jason cupped it in his hands and walked outside with it, looking at its little head darting between his fingers.

‘What is it, Jase?’ Todd said, following him.

‘It’s a lizard.’

‘A lizard? Is it like a snake.’

‘No – well, sort of. It’s got legs, but they don’t bite you. Not unless they’re big.’

Todd looked around him.

It was windy outside. The breeze ruffled at Jason’s nightshirt and he walked over to the garden where there were some hyacinths growing. ‘You’ve got to hide from the birds,’ he said, speaking to the lizard. He shuffled the lizard forward till it ran undercover. And stood up.

‘Can I kick you in the nuts, Jase?’

‘What?’

‘Can I kick your balls. Just let me plant my foot in there once. You look fucking sexy in that dress.’

‘It’s a nightshirt.’

‘And what’s that? A guy’s excuse for wearing a dress?’

‘You’re really fucked up, Todd. I always wear these. You’ve never said anything about it before. It’s not a dress you know? They use to wear them in the olden days.’

‘Whatever. Can I kick your nuts?’

‘Nuts?’

‘Fuck, Jase! Testicles. Can I kick you in the balls?’

‘I’m not an animal, Todd. We’re not animals.’ The wind was ruffling his hair. He felt like he was an adult, speaking to a child.

‘What the fuck! Oh, what the fuck did you just do!’ Todd reached down and grasped his groin, thrusting his hands into it and feeling all around. He unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them down quickly. He pulled down his boxers and stared at his groin.

‘Oh fuck!’ he said. ‘Oh fuck, Jase! I haven’t got anything. There’s nothing there,’ he said, looking up at Jason.

‘What would be there, Todd?’

‘My fucking penis! My fucking testicles! My fucking sack! Have you got yours?’

Jason pulled up his nightshirt. There was nothing there, of course. How could there possibly be anything there? ‘I’m not an animal, Todd. We’re not animals.’ He held the nightshirt up for a moment and let it go. It ruffled around his thighs in the breeze.

Todd shook his head. He pressed his fingers into his own groin like he’d just discovered it. Like he hadn’t always been that way.

‘You never had any organs, Todd. You’re not a homo-sapien.’

‘What?’

‘You’re not a homo-sapien.’

‘What am I, Jase?’

‘You’re a homo-numinous.’

Something seemed to shift. It was like the sky darkened and thundered and a storm passed all in a moment. The breeze blew gently; and Jason looked up at the sky. There was a double layer of clouds up there, one higher than the other, and the two were flowing crosswise, one heading south and the other east. He frowned. He had seen that before. He looked about him at the forest; and he looked at the house.

There was something about this place. This wasn’t America. He had been here before. A long time ago he had been here. He had lived here with Todd. And he had been older then. He had been a man – and Todd had been called…

‘Joshua.’

‘What?’

‘Your name’s Joshua.’

‘Of course it’s Joshua. Joshua, Doddua, Toddua, Toddy-Todd. It’s a nick-name.’

‘A nick-name?’

‘It’s a diminutive. I’m not really Joshua,’ Todd said. ‘No one thinks I’m that.’ He pulled up his jeans and buttoned them. He smiled. ‘I see why you liked it,’ he said, feeling his groin with his hand. ‘It feels good.’

‘Have we been here before?’

‘Of course,’ Todd said, swallowing. He slowed. ‘Do you remember it?’

Jason frowned. ‘It’s not America.’

‘No,’ Todd said. ‘We’re in the Antipodes.’

‘Isn’t that Oceania?’

‘Sure it is. But we’re behind the coast. Up in the mountains. We’re high up, Jase.’

Jason felt his hair ruffle around his head. He looked at the clouds again and realized how low they were. The bottom layer was sliding by just above the tops of the trees. It was racing by and it felt like the whole world was turning under his feet – like the world was flowing backwards. He had to look down again. It made him dizzy.

The house resolved itself with clarity – and he remembered. He had lived here with Todd. In the winter. In the realm of the queen. But it hadn’t been seventy-eight. It had been later, and they were far from the castle then, while the people in the town had ignored them, averting their faces, they had looked the other way.

‘Have we always been together?’

Jason frowned. There was something else. There was the sound of a motorbike. It was coming down the drive.

‘It’s the postie,’ Todd said.

Jason turned around and saw the guy. He was riding a little red motorbike down the drive, winding through the trees.

‘Watch,’ Todd said. ‘It’ll be him.’

The guy pulled up and stopped. He cut the engine on the bike and hopped off. He didn’t take the helmet off but stepped over to them on the lawn.

‘Ladies,’ he said, nodding.

‘Fuckface,’ Todd said, nodding his head.

‘Call him penis-head, Jase,’ Todd said, reaching up on his toes and whispering in Jason’s ear.

‘Mr. Penishead,’ Jason said. ‘You’ve got a delivery?’

The guy stopped and rocked a bit on his heels. He wasn’t young. And it was impossible to tell what he looked like because he had the helmet on his head and a profusion of white beard which was stuck out all around it like it had been frozen backwards by the wind. It was comical.

‘J. J. Chaste,’ he said, ‘esquire!’

‘J. J. ?’

The guy shrugged his shoulders. ‘I chucked a Judas in,’ he said. ‘You don’t hear it very often these days.’

‘Is it for me?’

The guy tossed his head back. ‘What do you think dew-arse? Do you think I’m gonna ride all the way down here from the top of the drive if it’s not for you?’

‘You could have put it in the box,’ Todd said, stepping forward.

‘Oh, there’s a box, is there?’

‘Of course there’s a box. There’s a mailbox isn’t there, Jase?’ He stepped forward and put his hand on Jason’s shoulder.

‘It’s shaped like a cow,’ Jason said.

The guy tried not to smile. ‘Well, well, I never saw it. And anyway, this is registered post, don’t you know?’

‘Registered?’

‘That’s it, son. Registered.’

‘Where was it registered?’ Todd said.

The guy rolled his eyes back. ‘In the register.’

‘You don’t even bother, do you?’ Todd said. ‘You don’t even make an effort.’

The guy pushed his lips down and tried to repress his smile. He handed Jason the letter and got back on the bike. ‘I do get tired, you know? I did just get out of bed.’ He fired the bike up and took off. ‘I’ll be seeing you later,’ he said, somehow, though he was halfway up the drive.

Jason pushed his mouth down and turned the letter over. ‘Southern Productions,’ he said.

‘Look at the date stamp, Jase.’

Jason turned it over. ‘What? Nineteen June, twenty thirty-seven?’ He frowned.

‘It’ll be a cheque,’ Todd said. ‘It’ll be a fucking cheque.’

Jason ripped it open and pulled it out. It was a cheque.

‘A million dollars?’ Todd said.

Jason nodded.

‘We busted it, Jase. He’s admitting defeat. We busted the fucking show.’

Jason frowned.

‘Do you remember?’

Something rocked under Jason’s feet and there was a sudden flash of light. There was a tree. A struggle near a tree. There were the sandals of a centurion. There was an old time. An old time. A long time ago.

And there was yesterday.

They had always been together.

‘Fuck,’ Jason said. ‘Oh fuck!’ He remembered everything.

Todd shrugged and they walked together down to the orchard. They crossed it, walking between the trees until Todd said, ‘Here! Fuck! He always surprises you, doesn’t he?’ Todd walked over to a tree that Jason had never seen before. It hadn’t been there yesterday. Even in this frame, it hadn’t been there yesterday.

‘No flashing swords,’ Todd said. ‘And not an apple.’

‘Do you want to pick it?’

‘You do it, Todd. It’s yours to pick.’

Todd reached up and plucked the round fruit. If it was like anything, it was like a peach. ‘You get one too,’ Todd said. ‘We’ll eat them together.’

Jason reached up and hesitated. ‘Do you think I’m really allowed?’

Todd shrugged. ‘Eat half of this,’ he said.

They bit into it together, holding it between them. It was better than it possibly could have been – and not, therefore, describable. They sucked the fruit and chewed becoming one person, one being, in the same body, naked.

Joshua looked up at the trees all around him. Everything was shifting while Jason and Todd turned inside him, finding their places, stretching out their hands toward each other and looking out through the one eye. The world distorted and they stepped apart.

Jason threw his head back and stared all around him. The forest widened and suddenly came to life.

He held Todd’s hand. ‘What is this place?’ he said.

‘This?’ Todd said. ‘This is the Realm.’

REPRISE

‘Oh,’ Todd added, ‘He says to tell you that over the hill it’s going to be Mansfield Park. On the other side of the ridge.’

‘Are we going there?’

‘Sure we are. You know Mansfield Park.’

‘Sure I know. It’s my favorite. You never can tell what’s going to happen in it.’

‘I always thought it was pretty obvious.’

‘Well, it is after the first time – but you’ve just got to forget about it and try to live it all again.’

‘How many times have you read it?’

‘I don’t know. I’ve lost count.’

‘And you forget every time?’

Jason shrugged.

‘You’re good at that, aren’t you Jase?’

‘It’s what I do.’

‘Anyway, I’m going to be Mr. Crawford.’

‘What? Oh well, I want to be Fanny then.’

‘You can’t be Fanny, Jase.’

‘Why can’t I?’

‘She didn’t have any gear.’

‘I don’t have any gear.’

‘Yeah – but he’s gonna give it back to us. Everything commensurate with life in the 1820s, he says.’

‘Is he speaking to you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why doesn’t he just talk so I can hear him?’

‘BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO.’

Jason jolted his head back at the sound. He swallowed. ‘I don’t see why I can’t be Fanny,’ he said.

‘You can’t be Fanny, Jase. She didn’t have any gear.’

‘She might have done.’

‘She didn’t, Jase. You can tell by her name that she wouldn’t have.’

‘Well, why do I need gear for anyway? Why can’t I be a girl?’

‘Not that again!’

‘I don’t see why not.’

‘I can’t waste you if you don’t have any gear.’

‘Am I gonna be victim again? I was the victim yesterday.’

‘You weren’t the victim, Jase. I was the victim.’

‘How were you the victim? I lost all my gear. I got busted.’

‘I got sacrificed, Jase. I was murdered.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Didn’t you watch the tapes?’

‘Yeah, I watched em.’

‘Well then, you can’t believe it didn’t happen, can you?’

‘Can’t I? Didn’t it?’

‘It did, Jase.’

‘Well, I don’t see how you ever get really humiliated. It always seems to be me who cops the worst of it.’

‘It wouldn’t be funny if it happened to me.’

‘It’s not funny when it happens to me.’

‘It is, Jase.’

‘It isn’t. And I don’t see why I always have to be so stupid. Why do I have to be stupid?’

‘It makes it okay, Jase. If you weren’t stupid, you’d get angry about the whole thing.’

‘Well, I should get angry if you ask me. It’s not very fair, is it – to have someone using you like that?’

‘You like it, Jase.’

‘I don’t like it.’

‘You do.’

They reached the top of the hill and stopped. Through the trees the prospect opened out and it was possible to see the mansion house sitting boldly on an expanse of lawn in a manicured garden. There was a maze and conifers and fields that rolled on forever.

‘It’s not Thornton Lacey.’

‘Not, but you’re getting into the spirit of it.’

‘Won’t it be cold?’

‘It’s the height of an English summer, he says.’

Jason looked up above him to where the sky changed tint, became bluer. He looked down to Mansfield Park. It was brighter there somehow, a softer light, yet brighter at the same time. It was greener – a different green.

He felt the nightshirt ruffle around his thighs. ‘I can’t walk down there like this,’ he said, plucking at the nightshirt.

‘You’ve got to take it off. We’ve got to take these off,’ Todd said. He pulled the T-shirt over his head in one swift movement.

Jason pulled the nightshirt up and over his head, stretching his back and turning his head to one side. He heard his neck crack and he felt different somehow. He pulled the nightshirt down over his hands and was bunching it up when he noticed his groin. His gear was there – just like it had been yesterday, before he went on the show. It was exactly the same. Todd was staring at it.

‘Oh shit,’ Todd said. He undid his jeans and pulled them down. ‘Oh fuck,’ Todd said. ‘That’s just ridiculous!’ Jason opened his eyes and swallowed. He had never seen anything that big before; and on Todd’s narrow frame it looked unnatural. ‘Oh look at the size of my fucking balls!’ Todd said, reaching down and cradling them. He seemed distressed about it.

‘Maybe you’re the one who’s gonna cop it, Todd.’

‘What? Oh, no. No.’ He backed away and fell down because his jeans caught around his ankles. He fell on his butt and reached forward to untie his gym shoes. ‘That’s not gonna happen, Jase.’

‘Really?’

‘Of course not.’

‘It couldn’t?’

‘No. You wouldn’t do that to me. You owe me.’

‘What do I owe you for?’

‘The garden.’

‘Oh not that again!’ Jason said. ‘Why do you always have to bring that up?’

‘It’s a big thing, Jase. It’s not something you’re likely to live down in a hurry.’

‘It’s been years,’ Jason said.

‘It’s not that long, Jase. It was only a few yesterdays ago.’

‘It’s a long time, Todd.’

‘It’s the same day for him.’

‘Is it?’ Jason said.

‘Well, I think so. Maybe. Is this a new day?’

‘I think it’s a new day, Todd.’

‘Oh, well, even so. You can’t get out of it just because it happened yesterday. You did do it.’

‘But you told me to! You said, “Dip your hand in this cup.”’

‘You had your hand in there already, Jase.’

‘You told me to put it there!’

‘Well – so what? I told you to put your hand in a cup. Why make a big deal about it?’

‘You said, “He who dips his hand in this cup with me” – but my hand was already in there! You told me to put it there! What the fuck did I do wrong?’

‘You kissed me in the garden of Gethsemane, Jase. You can’t be expected to live that down.’

‘You told me to do it.’

‘I didn’t tell you to kiss me.’

‘You did.’

‘I never said kiss.’

‘But you told me to…’

‘Even so,’ Todd said. ‘You shouldn’t do what someone else says, just because they tell you to do it. You’ve got to think for yourself, Jase. What sort of a world would it be if everyone followed someone else?’

‘It’d be a pasture.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Todd?’

Todd looked up.

‘Come here,’ Jason said.

‘What? Why?’

‘Aren’t we going to walk down there together?’

‘Yeah. Of course we are.’

‘Well, here, take my hand, eh?’

‘Your hand.’

‘Yeah, my hand.’

‘Are we getting married?’

‘I’m going to kiss you,’ Jason said. ‘I really want to shut you up.’