"Yes?" "What are we?" she said. "Huh?" "Are we human? Where do we come from? How did we get here? Why do I have wings?" He closed his eyes and found that they'd welled up with tears. Once the first tear slid down his cheek, the rest came, and he was crying, weeping silently at first and then braying like a donkey in sobs that started in his balls and emerged from his throat like vomit, gushing out with hot tears and hot snot. Mimi enveloped him in her wings and kissed his tears away, working down his cheeks to his neck, his Adam's apple. He snuffled back a mouthful of mucus and salt and wailed, "I don't know!" She snugged her mouth up against his collarbone. "Krishna does," she whispered into his skin. She tugged at the skin with her teeth. "What about your family?" He swallowed a couple of times, painfully aware of her lips and breath on his skin, the enveloping coolth of her wings, and the smell in every breath he took. He wanted to blow his nose, but he couldn't move without breaking the spell, so he hoarked his sinuses back into his throat and drank the oozing oyster of self-pity that slid down his throat. "My family?" "I don't have a family, but you do," she said. "Your family must know." "They don't," he said. "Maybe you haven't asked them properly. When are you leaving?" "Today." "Driving?" "Got a rental car," he said. "Room for one more?" "Yes," he said. "Then take me," she said. "All right," he said. She raised her head and kissed him on the lips, and he could taste the smell now, and the blood roared in his ears as she straddled his lap, grinding her mons -- hot through the thin cotton of her skirt -- against him. They slid down on the sofa and they groaned into each others' mouths, his voice box resonating with hers. # He parked the rental car in the driveway, finishing his cell phone conversation with Lyman and then popping the trunk before getting out. He glanced reflexively up at Mimi and Krishna's windows, saw the blinds were still drawn. When he got to the living room, Mimi was bent over a suitcase, forcing it closed. Two more were lined up beside the door, along with three shopping bags filled with tupperwares and ziplocs of food from his fridge. "I've borrowed some of your clothes," she said. "Didn't want to have to go back for mine. Packed us a picnic, too." He planted his hands on his hips. "You thought of everything, huh?" he said. She cast her eyes down. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice. "I couldn't go home." Her wings unfolded and folded down again nervously. He went and stood next to her. He could still smell the sex on her, and on him. A livid hickey stood out on her soft skin on her throat. He twined her fingers in his and dropped his face down to her ear. "It's okay," he said huskily. "I'm glad you did it." She turned her head and brushed her lips over his, brushed her hand over his groin. He groaned softly. "We have to get driving," he said.