And that shut them up. They all regarded him, as if waiting for him to
go on. He didn't know what to say. Were they, really? Was he? Was he
better?
"What are we, Alan?" Edward said it, but Frederick and George mouthed
the words after he'd said them.
"You're my brothers," he said. "You're. . ."
"I want to see the city," George said. "You two can come with me, or you
can meet me when I come back."
"You *can't* go without us," Frederick said. "What if we get hungry?"
"You mean, what if I don't come back, right?"
"No," Frederick said, his face turning red.
"Well, how hungry are you going to get in a couple hours? You're just
worried that I'm going to wander off and not come back. Fall into a
hole. Meet a girl. Get drunk. And you won't ever be able to eat again."
He was pacing again.
Ed and Fred looked imploringly at him.
"Why don't we all go together?" Alan said. "We'll go out and do
something fun -- how about ice-skating?"
"Skating?" George said. "Jesus, I didn't ride a bus for 30 hours just to
go *skating*."
Edward said, "I want to sleep."
Frederick said, "I want dinner."
Perfect, Alan thought. "Perfect. We'll all be equally displeased with
this, then. The skating's out in front of City Hall. There are lots of
people there, and we can take the subway down. We'll have dinner
afterward on Queen Street, then turn in early and get a good night's
sleep.
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