She said Vermont is lovely. He said let’s move. She said let’s move Vermont further away from New York. He said she was difficult and unreasonable. He said she was charming. He said he thought her quite a lady. She said bullshit. She said be realistic. He said reality was her game.

He said we leave tonight. He said do you want to dance? She decided she loved him, too late. She said she might send his bones home to his mother. Powdered perhaps, she added. Yes, powdered as dust. She decided she might love him. She did not say anything for a time. He said he would phone her from the bar if he had a dime.

It was midnight. He said sleep with me tonight. She said not until morning. He was afraid. She said pain. She was impervious to rain, dry as paper. She had dust in her bones.