"How big are they going to get, do you think?" she said, arranging them.
"You don't know?"
"They're bigger than they've ever been. That was good food," she
said. "I think I should go talk to Krishna."
Adam shook his head. "Whoa."
"You don't need to be in between us. Maybe I can get him to back off on
you, on your family."
"Mimi, I don't even want to discuss it."
"It's the right thing to do," she said. "It's not fair to you to stay."
"You want to have your wings cut," Alan said. "That's why you want to go
back to him."
She shied back as though he'd slapped her. "No --"
"You do. But what Billy didn't tell you is that Krishna's out there with
other women, I saw him today. With a girl. Young. Pretty. Normal. If he
takes you back, it will be as a toy, not as a lover. He can't love."
"Christ," she said. "Why are you saying this?"
"Because I don't want to watch you self-destruct, Mimi. Stay here. We'll
sort out Krishna together. And my brother. Billy's here now, that means
they can't sneak up on us."
"And these?" she said, flapping her wings, one great heave that sent
currents of air across the room, that blew the loose frontispiece from
*Alice in Wonderland* toward the fireplace grate. "You'll sort these
out, too?"
"What do you want from me, Mimi?" He was angry now. She hadn't spoken a
word to him in weeks, and now --
"Cut them off, Alan.
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