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Let me show you something, Walt said.

He dressed them warmly and headed out. It was 1:00 p.m., too early for kids to be out of school, but late enough that most people were at work.

He took them to the bus stop and used some of Hollis’s hard-earned money to ride to the edge of the community, in the opposite direction of Rose Town, close to where they met. Until the abandoned houses crowded out the full ones, getting shabbier and shabbier.

Then they walked for another mile, until the green crowded out man-made things and trees grew tall and the shadows beneath them dark.

Walt stopped in front of a small hill with dark green grass, strange for this time of year. He rounded the side of the hill, and Hollis was faced with a hole.

It was half the size of a man and dug deep enough to climb into.

This used to be a place that you could bathe in. Stayed warm all year.

Walt crouched to his knees and pulled them into the hollow, ducking Hollis’s frame until it fit, curled up like a child.

Heat radiated from the soil in wisps of steam. Enough of it to feel like he was sitting by a radiator. Enough to not feel winter chill.

You slept here?

Before you.

Hollis didn’t know what to say.

Walt closed their eyes and leaned back into the grass.

Walt.

Hmm?

Why did you come here? There are a million towns like this all over America. This isn’t a place one finds themselves on accident. We can barely get one bus route down here. What are you doing here?

Walt bit his lip.

I can’t tell you yet. It’s personal. I don’t know you well enough.

Oh, fuck you. You know me more than I know you, and you know that shit’s not fair, so give me something. Anything.

Walt tapped their fingers against their knee, a nervous habit that Hollis didn’t have, and sat silently. Hollis waited him out.

I... I think you’re my last ride.

You thinking of dropping the habit? Hollis asked, cruel.

Walt laughed.

No, I’m just... I think you’re it. For me. So, I have to do the best I can, try to make amends, give you the best of me while I’m still around.

What about that other guy... Why couldn’t he be your last?

Walt shook their head, tapped their fingers.

Don’t compare yourself to him. You’re... more.

What does that even mean?

It means I’m glad it’s you, in the end. Even if you’re angry, even though you don’t know me, I don’t mind it being you.