the trash. That passes for nature here in LA. It was just above the smog layer, too. Such are the advantages
of having prosperous parents. My mother left it to me after my father died and she retired to Scottsdale, to be closer to her motherâs nursing home.
The only thing that could be held against it was that it was in the wrong valleyâSan Gabriel, where the ârealâ people (read: not in the movie business) lived. Every once in a while one of the other agents would mock me about that. I would smile sweetly and ask them what the rent was on their one-bedroom condo in Van Nuys.
âIâve lived here all my life,â I said. âMy mom gave me the house when she moved. What does âhighly advanced and organized colony of single-celled organismsâ mean?â
âIt means that each of the cells in my body is a self-contained, unspecialized organism,â Joshua said. âHow did you decide to become an agent?â
âMy dad was an agentâa literary agent,â I said. âWhen I was a kid, heâd bring his clients over for dinner. They were weird but fun people. I thought it was cool that my dad knew such weird people, so I decided I wanted to be an agent. I must have been about five. I had no idea what an agent really did. If youâre actually a bunch of smaller creatures, how do you get them all to move and act the way you want them to?â
âI donât know,â Joshua said. âDo you know how you make your heart beat?â
âSure,â I said. âMy brain sends a message to my heart to keep beating.â
âRight,â Joshua said. âBut you donât know the exact process.â
âNo,â I said.
âNeither do I,â Joshua said. âDo you have a game console?â
âWhat? No,â I said. âI had a Nintendo when I was younger, but that was a long time ago. Do you have any organs, like a heart or a brain?â
âNot exactly,â Joshua said. âThe cells take turns performing functions, based on need. Right now, for example, the cells on my surface are collecting sensory information. Other cells not otherwise occupied are performing cognitive functions. The cells around the pizza are digesting it. Like I said, I donât think about doing these things, they just get done. What about cable?â
âBasic plus HBO and Playboy Network.â
âNaughty boy.â
âI wanted Showtime. They screwed it up. I never got around to fixing it.â
âI believe you,â Joshua said. âReally I do.â
âAre you male or female?â I asked.
âIâm neither,â Joshua said. âMy cells reproduce asexually. Spice Channel will do nothing for me. Do you have a computer with an Internet connection?â
âI have a Mac and DSL,â I said. âWhy are you asking about these things?â
âI donât know if youâve noticed, but Iâm a gelatinous cube,â Joshua said. âItâs not like Iâm going to be getting out of the house much. The neighbors would talk. So I want to make sure Iâm going to be able to keep myself amused. Got any pets?â
âI had a cat, but he ran away about two years ago. I say âran away,â but I think he was hit by a car or eaten by coyotes. The Escobedos next door have a retriever, Ralph, that will occasionally get out of the yard and come over for a visit. I donât think you need to worry about Ralph, though. Heâs fifteen years old. He might be able to gum you, but thatâs about it.
Anyway, he never comes in the house. So, if your species reproduces asexually, that means youâre a clone of some other Yherajk, right?â
âEeeeeeeh â¦â Joshua sounded suspiciously like he was trying to evade the question. âNot exactly,â he said, finally. âOur cells are asexual but we have a way of creating new ⦠âsoulsâ is probably the
KyAnn Waters, Natasha Blackthorne, Tarah Scott