081413 #worm Eventually, the mall became the entire town. Him's little empty-office loft got chewed up like a guppy in the watery maw of a great, gap-toothed predator fish, bigger than any aquarium could bear. Sometimes Him sleeps in Me's closet. They can always make something up to tell Me's parents. Me's parents' house is a women's shoe store now. At night, Him and Me unfold the trampoline and bounce, lullingly, amid the dun glow of the backup night-lights and the smell of all that potentially female-caressed leather. O, hopeful leather! to be filled by the superlative, fleshly pads of the feminine foundation! It was simply too much to bear, at times. Some of the sleeker black, strappy heels bear the traces of Me's dried-up spooge, although of course this is an utmost secret to be kept concealed from Him. Him, likewise, is certain his friend will never know about his own lost sperm, hiding and flaking away in the veal-soft interiors of certain size fourteen triple-A men's cross-training shoes.