“Trying something out?” Leo said.
“Well, I have this theory. Since I’ve been with my soul, my angel gifts, so to speak, have been failing or fading. I don’t know, just changing.”
“So what’s your theory?”
“That I’m becoming a human.” I looked at him and arched my eyebrows.
He shook his head. “Nah, no way. It can’t happen.”
“Really, you don’t think it’s possible?”
“No.”
“Evey, my wife, is pregnant.”
“With what?”
“See, that’s my point,” I said. “It’s not a litter of fucking puppies, man. She’s pregnant with my baby.”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s true.”
He looked off into a restaurant, seeming to think about what I had said. “Hey, let me get these two home. Then you wanna grab a drink, and we’ll talk some more?”
I looked into the restaurant and saw a couple enjoying a meal. “Are those your souls right there?”
“Yeah.”
“Looks like they’re enjoying themselves.”
“Give me a second.” He opened his hand and revealed a giant roach.
“No, you can’t do that.”
He shook his head. “Yeah, I can. These two never stay home. I’m constantly following their asses around the city. I could use a beer.”
He left me on the bench, then a moment later he was following two very angry people out of the restaurant. Leo was laughing and waving for me to follow. I would never have done that to one of my souls.
WE ENDED UPat the Star Wars bar, and Han, the bartender working when Evey first met me, was manning the bar once again.
“You,” he said when we sat down. “I thought you’d be dead.” He addressed Leo, “Your friend can drink.”
“Whiskeys and IPAs,” Leo said.
Han poured us two fingers of Whistle Pig and some local IPAs in pints. Leo dumped part of his IPA beer into his whiskey, so I did the same. I’d told Evey that I wouldn’t drink like that, but we were fighting, and I needed something. I downed the first cup then the second, and I was toast. My body wasn’t recovering very fast.
Leo was looking at me strangely. “Why are you so fucked up, man?”
“I don’t know. This is what’s happening to me.” I shook my head. “I can only have one more, then I gotta get home.”
“Home?” he repeated. It wasn’t exactly angel-speak.
“Yeah, I gotta get home to Evey. She’s pregnant, and she’s gonna get mad at me for getting trashed.”
“The old ball and chain, huh? Been married a few days and you’re already fighting and in trouble?”
“No, it’s not like that,” I said, but it kind of was. “I just wanted to know if you had ever heard of anything like this happening?”
