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North laughed in spite of himself.
“But sadly,” Shaw said, “we’ll never know.”
Rapping on the front of the illuminated Coke machine, North glanced at the uniformed kid. Eaton was still watching them. “Buy me a Coke?”
“Oh, I don’t have any quarters,” Shaw said. “I experienced a psychic katabasis and had to change all my quarters into obols.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Plus these pants don’t have pockets.”
“Interesting, because you were playing pocket pool in the car earlier.”
“I was getting to know my own body, for your information, which is an important part of an awakened sexuality—”
“Quarters. Now.”
“I had to give them to Jem because he bet me I couldn’t stand on one foot while I was standing next to the wall, but of course, in my past life, I was a lady flamingo, so I knew I could—”
“Jesus Christ. Never mind. I was going to share.”
Shaw patted himself down. “You know what? I think some of those obols might have magically transmuted themselves back into quarters now that my autosexual pilgrimage is over.”
“I thought it was a psychic katabasis.”
Shaw went for haughty. “It can be two things.”
The Coke was cold enough to make North’s throat tighten, the fizz and the sugar and the caffeine all a pleasantly painful overload. Shaw was literally unable to hold still as he pressed against North, eyes on the can.
“Don’t spot your shorts,” North muttered as he held out the can. “Slowly.”
Shaw nodded agreement, snatched the can, and began to guzzle it.
“Hey!”
With something like a whimper, Shaw pulled the can away from his mouth. The green in his hazel eyes looked electric, and he grinned as he said, “It’s cold.”
“This is sad. You know that, right?”
“And my tongue tastes like a battery.”
“Jesus Christ. I wonder if they have Al-Anon but for, well, this. Private investigators whose life partners are cola freaks.”
Shaw made a noise that was probably meant to suggest he was listening, but his eyes glittered as he stared at the can. “Oh my God, North, you know what we never did? We never got the puppy baptized. Oh! And we never got the puppy enrolled in preschool. Oh! And we never got the puppy godparents. Oh! And I bet I could run straight up this wall. Here, take a video!”
Eaton wasn’t looking at them anymore, so North twisted Shaw’s collar into an improvised handhold and steered him away from the manager’s office. They drifted into the darkness beyond the perimeter of lights, and the sounds of the RV park faded. The slosh of the Coke can and Shaw’s swallowing suggested the soda was already almost gone, and then a moment later, Shaw smacked his lips and let out a regretful sigh. He started to turn, saying, “I think I forgot my phone—”
“Unh-uh,” North said and hauled him back by the collar.
Shaw whined and pulled and spun as North manhandled him toward the chain-link fence, but he quieted when North gave him a little shake.
“Up and over,” North said, pointing to the fence. “Then wait. If you’re good, I’ll let you raid John-Henry’s Pepsi.”
A flood of words poured out of Shaw. “That’s not fair because Pepsi isn’t the same—”
“You want to argue? You want me to take Colt out for a Coke instead?”
“North!”
