Mieka leads Lamb up the staircase and rests her head against a pillow on the bed. She holds her breath and tells Lamb she is staying with her parents for good. Lamb begins to smile but feels strange. They climb over one another and soon they’re naked and floating on the bedspread. Mieka says, “I don’t know why I think everything should be perfect.” Lamb stops listening and closes his eyes. Her skin is smooth and moist beneath his hand. Lamb stares through her skin and watches her veins pump blood inside her, pushing her cells through her vessels like subway cars. She puts her mouth on his mouth and begins to suck. He lies on he back and watches a red light blink from the smoke detector. There is a cord hanging out and he wonders if this is a fire hazard. Lamb thinks, “I am happy” but feels the lingering potential for destruction spread across him, moving up from his stomach through his esophagus and pressing against the walls of his skull, brain on bone, jam-packed behind his eyes.