Chapter 1: One

Miller stopped and waited. Klein got his wheel stuck on the curb while going up the ramp and had to back up. 

"Car," Miller said. 

The Mercedes honked.  

Klein flipped the bird with his good arm, struggling to steer with his nubby hand. All the while Miller waited, wanting to do something but deciding not to, because he knew Klein always said no to help, whether he needed it or not. So Miller waited. 

"Car," Miller said again. 

It was another Mercedes. This one stopped by the curb and got out. She had to be in her sixties, but she clearly took very good care of herself. 

Lord what a body, Miller thought. 

"Do you need help?" she asked Klein. She didn't see Miller, but he definitely saw her. He noticed with approval that she knew how to step out of a car in a skirt without showing much more than her kneecaps.  

Classy, he thought, admiring how gracefully she squatted down to pull away the loose pavement holding Klein's chair up. 

"Of course you let her help you," Miller said. He watched the car as it sped away. 

"Duh," Klein said. "Did you see those heels? She never slipped once." 

"Yup. I bet she could go jogging in 'em too." 

"Who wears heels that tall to work?" 

"Oh, she probably runs the place." 

Miller looked up absentmindedly. The building was ten floors high and brand new. He glanced at the door and saw half a dozen company names on the glass. 

"Burr and Winfrey," Klein said. 

"What?" 

"The law firm. Every other business here is either tech or marketing. She's clearly a lawyer. I'm guessing she's Winfrey." 

"Oh yeah?" 

Klein went on for a bit. 

"Well," Miller said, "she's pretty, whoever she is." 

"Who? The lawyer? I'm not talking about her anymore. That's really annoying, you know." 

"Yup. Where we eatin'?" 

Klein growled, then started looking around. He stopped on a dime by a coffee shop and Miller almost rammed into his chair. 

"You wanna talk about annoying?" Miller said. 

Klein moved forward again, a hint of a grin on his face. He stopped again at Speedy Mart. 

"You wanna eat here?" Miller said. 

"Ana's working today." 

"So?" 

"That means they have poppers." 

They didn't. Ana was only filling in for her daughter who called out at the last minute, and she hadn't had time to put anything in the fryer. Klein was crestfallen. 

"You sure like them poppers." 

"They hardly ever make them anymore." 

"Let's go somewhere nice today." 

Klein laughed. "Let me guess. You want salt and pepper shrimp." 

Miller shrugged. "We can go somewhere else." 

Klein shook his head. "No. No. No, no, no, no, no. You wanna go to Red Panda and sit by the bamboo so you can watch Mai Lin's daughters load the dishwasher in their gym tights." 

Klein was getting loud and people were looking. 

"We don't have to eat at Panda. I'm just saying we should eat somewhere nice. It's your day to choose." 

"Really? Doesn't seem like it." 

"Don't be like that." 

"Don't be like what?!" 

"Calm down." Miller was calm. He wanted to raise his voice, but he just couldn't. Not with Klein. 

Klein sat still for a minute, then, when Miller didn't bite, turned his chair around and started heading home. Miller shook his head and kept walking. 

The sun was up, blue sky nice and clear with that perfect almost fall coolness. He shuffled on, wobbling a little to the left to keep the pressure off his right knee. His palm hurt, and he realized he'd been digging his nails into it. He felt guilty, balling up his fist on account of Klein. it just wasn't right getting mad at him, but he couldn't help it sometimes. He went to Maui Malu's and sat outside, ready to order the mac salad and three teriyaki chicken thighs. Noelani saw him and grabbed two menus, but got stopped by an old fellow who looked like the type who couldn't stop complaining, even when everything was fine. 

Everything was fine. The breeze was perfect. The sky was perfect. The streets were busy but not crowded. There was rain that morning, leaving the air nice and fresh. A couple of folks had their toddler nearby, and he was wanting to step in a puddle but was just a little bit scared, so he kept getting his boot to touch the water, then he'd scream and laugh and jump back, covering his face with his hands like it was just the craziest thing anyone had ever seen. Everything was fine. So why was this old fellow complaining? 

"Damn it," Miller said. 

He stood up, nice and slow, then waved at Noelani and shook his head. Ten minutes later he was at Red Panda, giving his knee a break while Alex crouched down to grab another tray of glasses from the dishwasher. If it wasn't for their hair, Miller would barely be able to tell those girls apart. 

"Hello Mr. Miller," said Mai Lin. 

She was looking as haggard as ever, like a horse rode hard and put away wet. Miller knew she worked hard, but couldn't she do something with her hair? Her daughters worked hard too and they always looked nice. 

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"How you doin' Mrs. Chen?". 

"I'm good, I'm good. Mr. Klein already waiting. He said your knee was hurting. You want some ice pack?" 

That rat bastard, Miller thought. "Oh, I'm alright, Mrs. Chen. But thank you." 

He picked himself up and went to the bamboo planter. Sure enough, there was Klein. He'd ordered a plate of shrimp for both of them and was sipping on his iced tea, all sugary the way he liked it. 

"You get to pick next two Wednesdays in a row," Miller said. He panted a little after sitting down. 

"Nope," Klein said, "today's my turn and I picked this place." 

"Well, next week we'll get poppers at Speedy." 

Klein shook his head. "No. No. No, no, no, no, no. That won't work. Then it's just us switching days but choosing what we think the other one will want and that will never work. No. We stick to the plan. I like this place too, you know." 

Stacey came and smiled. She had her antiperspirant on a little thick. 

"Hi Mr. Miller," she said. When that girl smiled her whole darn face nearly split in half. 

"Have a good game?" Miller asked. 

Stacey tilted her head to the side like she did when she was more upset than she wanted to show. 

"No. We lost. Chesterton is really, really good. Their goalie is almost impossible to get past, so we got creamed. But it's fine." 

It was not fine, but Stacey had no intention of complaining. Bless her. 

"You'll beat 'em next time," Miller said. 

"You bet, Mr. Miller. We'll beat them for you." 

Miller sucked back a tear. 

"You want hot and sour today?" Stacey asked. 

"I'll have egg drop." 

"Okay. Be right back." 

She spun around, and Miller couldn't help smiling at her bouncing pigtails. 

"She's young enough to be your daughter," Klein said. 

And that was how he saw them. But there was no use saying so. Miller knew Klein saw things the way he saw them. Stick to the plan. Miller watched them both working in spite of Klein's eye rolling, and thought approvingly of how much got done when they were there. Alex looked up and saw him. She smiled and waved. Miller waved back. 

"The shrimp's not as good as normal," Klein said. 

Miller ate a piece. It was fine. 

"Stacey made it." 

"That a fact?" 

Klein nodded. "She was upset about losing her game. That's why she didn't make it as good." 

"Sounds like you figured it out." 

Klein nodded. "She was distracted. It's understandable. I'll forgive her. But still, she should probably quit working here. Or quit the team. She works too hard at both things to do them both well. That's why she lost her game." 

"Her fault, huh?" 

Klein nodded. "I know you wouldn't like it, but both of them should quit. Alex broke a plate earlier. If she really wants to be a dancer, then she should just do that." 

"Well, I'll let 'em both know you figured it all out." 

"Have you picked a movie for tonight?" Klein asked. 

"Predator." 

"One or two?" 

"One," Miller said. "I hate number two. I can't take any of it serious." 

Klein nodded. "I agree. Same with Aliens." 

"You don't like the second Alien? Shoot. That's the best one." 

"I disagree. The first one had subtlety. The second one just had lots of monsters eating people." 

"Didn't you like the queen? And Ripley saving the day and not taking no crap from anybody?" 

Klein ate the last piece of shrimp, then nodded. "The queen was good. But Ripley's always the star, so the exosuit fight didn't really stand out to me." 

Miller shrugged. "Well, at least you put some thought into it." 

Stacey came back with the soup. 

"The shrimp's tasting great today," Miller said. 

"Oh, dad made it. I'll tell him you said so. Here's your soup." 

Klein looked up and stared. Miller ate his soup. Stacey came back with their entrees. Klein had ordered both their favorites. Miller ate every bite. Klein just kept staring. Miller asked Stacey to box up Klein's food and they said goodbye and left. Klein made it till halfway through the movie, then he spoke up, acting like everything was fine, which it was. He complained about the movie's soundtrack, then rambled on about something or other. After putting Klein to bed, Miller read a book about the struggles of being a veteran, and he felt grateful that he never got drafted. His knee saved him from that, so he couldn't be to upset about it, really, no matter how much it bugged him. He read for half an hour, then shut off his light and dozed until he heard Klein screaming, then checked on him. 

Just a bad dream, Miller thought. He wouldn't need the mop tonight. Poor fella. He read for another half an hour before falling to sleep and dreaming that he owned a Mercedes. 

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