I stayed after to do some classifying. My brother showed up with a new back-of-the-hand rocket prototype; he shot it out over the lake where it exploded in a puff of gelatinous crème. Wanna go get some lunch? I said sure but I gotta get married right after. Bro glanced at my girlfriend who gave a little wave. My brother’s a scientist, I told her. I know. That’s cool, she said. I locked up the rich mahogany curio cabinets in the office while they chatted about astrophysics and jellyfish. Ready? And then we went to Murfs Frozen Shit. If people haven’t been there they hear that and think ew, but what Murf means by that is just, you know, like I got all kinds of frozen shit. What do you want? I asked for frozen seaweed and my brother ordered a turtle. Murf asked my girlfriend what she wanted, and the conversation went like this: “What would you like?” “Cheese.” “Cheese?” “Cheese.” “Cheese!” “Cheese.” “Cheese.” He wrote it all down. Outside afterward on the boardwalk by the lake the planks were hot in the sun. There was a fuzzy orange cat across the beach, being paid attention to by some kids while their mom watched with a patient mom grin. The cat was truly fuzzy, like a dandelion. I wanted everyone to see how unusual and cute it was, so I kept pointing and saying hey, look at that cat, until it was out of sight. We strolled down the dock to where the pontoon boat I’d rented-to-own sat bobbing. Seagulls wheeled and sang badly. My brother appeared to be taking more and more of an interest in my girlfriend who seemed to be taking an interest in the hotdog stand farther up the beach, so he offered to buy her one. Guess the frozen cheese hadn’t quite done it. Nah, i’ll just hang out here, y’all go ahead, I said, and I set up my aluminum and webbing lawn chair on the deck of my—my!—boat. Gentle waves kicked at the pontoons and made a sound like someone carrying home half empty jugs of milk across uneven terrain. Occasionally a wave would hit just exactly right and make a mellifluous metallic PLUNK. I was in love, just not with my girlfriend. I watched them walk. Their butts looked good together, undulating slightly with each step like buddies sitting next to each other on a piano bench. We probably weren’t gonna stay married very long anyway, so— I asked one of the seagulls if they would make me some coffee. They said they would. People say seagulls are weird, but you just gotta get to know em.