“He’s tall,” Teresa said.
“Yeah, what else?”
“He has pretty hair.”
“Also true,” I agreed.
“Sometimes he’s scary, like when he first wakes up.” She made her hands into claws and growled like a bear. “But he keeps us safe and he’s good at killing Rabids.”
“He’s very competent,” I agreed, something I’d appreciated about him from the beginning. “He’s funny too, don’t you think?”
“Funny looking,” she said with a snicker.
“I thought he was a jerk when we first met.” I tried not to think of him as the person who ended my mother’s life. I’d thought about it a lot since that day and could now admit to myself that she’d been suffering terribly, and even if there was some medicine that could have helped her, we didn’t have it. It was better that she died quietly by his hand, than being left to become what we encountered in the woods.
“What doyouthink of Cipher?” Teresa asked.
“He’s handsome,” I said, not even trying to hide my infatuation. Annoyingly handsome and annoyingly stubborn. I knew that there were a lot of painful memories he didn’t want to share, and I respected that. But I wished he would give me a chance. Maybe he didn’t want to have to teach me about sex. I obviously wasn’t an expert, but I’d seen animals do it, and my mother had always been good about answering my questions, even those about sex between men. One pitches, one catches, as my brother once said. Pictures would be helpful. Or an instructional video. I bet Macon knew all about it. He might tell me. “Do you like him?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said without any hesitation.
“Would you want him as a boyfriend?”
She made a sour face. “Ew, gross. I don’t want a boyfriend or a girlfriend. I just want new dresses and dolls, and maybe another cat or five. And cake. And candy. And ice cream. Do you think there will be ice cream in Atlanta?”
“Maybe, though I’d be happy with running water.”
The biggest city I’d ever been to was Greenville, where there was a huge waterfall that cut right through the center of the downtown and a big suspension bridge you could walk across to get to the other side of the river. I wondered if it was still there or if some natural disaster might have brought it down. Some cities in America had been bombed, but not ours, not as far as I knew. I wasn’t sure about Atlanta, since we didn’t really have access to news, just had to rely on word of mouth. Most of all, I hoped my brother was there, that he was safe, and that I’d be able to find him.
We each shared what we knew about Atlanta, which wasn’t a lot, and speculated on all the possible comforts and delights awaiting us there. Eventually, I caught up to Gizmo, determined to crack the case of Cipher’s sexuality.
“Does Cipher like boys?” I asked Gizmo, point-blank.
He pondered it for a moment, then said, “Cipher likes weapons, cigarettes, and Ziploc bags.”
“Have you ever seen him with a boy, like, kissing and stuff?”
“I haven’t, but I typically avoid watching others engage in sexual activity.”
“Does he ever talk about boys or girls, like wanting to make out with them?”
“Not to me, which is how I prefer it.”
He gave me a look, and I took the hint.
I sidled up to Artemis. She glanced over at me, a smile on her face already. She probably heard us talking.
“What?” I asked innocently.
“Go ahead,” she said like she already knew what was coming.
“Has Cipher ever had a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend?”
“That is an excellent question,” she said, but before I could get my hopes up, she continued with, “You should ask him that yourself.”
“Not helpful,” I grumbled, and she laughed.
“I’m not in the habit of telling other people’s business,” she said with a pointed look.
