Miro and Una reconnected swimmingly. Actually, swimmingly didn't begin to cover it. It felt like catching lightning in a bottle—assuming the bottle served root beer floats, smelled faintly of body glitter, and employed women named things like Purty and Ms. O. After the fire, there had been firefighters, police officers, insurance people, Uncle Owen, Eddy, and approximately fourteen different versions of the question How did this happen? The official answer was electrical. The

Miro ran into the burning building. Una couldn't stop him. One second, they'd been standing together in the parking lot staring at flames pouring from the Taco Ballz kitchen. The next, he was gone. "Miro!" He disappeared through the back door. "Miro!" Nothing. Una stood helplessly in the parking lot, her heart pounding. Smoke rolled from the roof. Flames flashed behind the kitchen windows, turning the glass orange. Something inside crashed loudly enough to make Una jump. "Mir

"Godlessness," Pete declared. "That's what it is. Godlessness. This entire country is drowning in it." Una nodded thoughtfully. "Mmm-hmm." She had no idea what he was talking about. Pete and Chris had returned after the dinner rush to use the restroom and conduct what Una had come to think of as their nightly audit of civilization's decline. Una was only pretending to listen. At the drive-thru window behind them, one of the dumpster lovers had reappeared. He was wearing pants

LARPers throw down in the parking lot. Miro and Una enjoy the show.

Miro and Una set up for lunch. The missionaries join, along with a few regulars.

It took Una and Miro less than an hour to get Taco Ballz ready for what Miro optimistically described as the lunch rush. "How much of a rush are we talking about?" Una asked. "Could get crazy." "Really?" "Five, maybe six people." Una nodded solemnly. "Jesus. Should I call for backup?" "Already did. Nobody answered." As they worked, Miro explained that opening for one final day wasn't entirely pointless. Whatever food they sold was food they wouldn't have to throw away that ni

Una is starting a new job. The outlook is all sunshine.