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240 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 27, 2027
Dennis had been the only man she had ever loved, and was now a person she felt a numbing ambivalence towards. Thinking about Dennis was like going to the dentist to get a filling: a slight pinch, and then nothing.
Twenty-two was a complicated age for Moose, who was navigating it with more anger than Leslie remembered having at her age - but then the whole world was on rollerskates back then. Hard to be angry on rollerskates.
Everything looked foreign and unreal yet somehow exactly as she had expected it to. There were huge billboards promoting music and magic shows, no-win, no-fee injury lawyers, medications. She spotted two dialysis clinics on the short drive from the airport to the hotel. Leslie wasn't sure she'd ever seen a dialysis clinic at home. And yet, there were two here on this short stretch of road. What was happening to America's kidneys?
Leslie cut into the waffle... Whoever invented this deserved a Nobel prize! Which category, she wasn't sure. Was there an overall winner for just generally making life better?
Her understanding of America was that they liked things big, and they liked them convenient.
She wanted to stand at the edge and peer over. She wanted to hike down and look up. She couldn't remember the last time she wanted so much of everything.
This cold drink. This salty rim. This desert paradise. She wondered if she could live here after all. She could buy a house... She could decorate the house in tasteful desert colours.
Leslie was having the time of her life, drunk on white rum and food colouring and champagne and pink lipstick and heat and tigers and velvet. She was in love with everyone (except Dennis) and everything. She had never felt a high like this before, and she realised that maybe it was happiness. If it wasn't heat stroke and alcohol, then it was definitely happiness.