FREDDY Pelu is a man who doesn‘t need to be told, before take-off, to secure his own oxygen mask before assisting others.
It was just a game they were playing, waiting for friendsto join them at the bar. One of those San Francisco bars thatis neither gay nor straight, just odd, and Freddy still worehis blue shirt and tie from teaching, and they were havingsome new kind of beer that tasted like aspirin and smelledlike magnolias and cost more than a hamburger. Less was in acable-knit sweater. They were trying to describe each otherin a single sentence. Less had gone first and said the sentencewritten above.
Freddy frowned. "Arthur," he said. Then he looked downat the table.