Being the first people to the Intentional Community, Brad and Ukifune were able to get the room that had been Brad’s residence. Interestingly enough, it was Clive who had bought the property and developed the concept.

Not knowing where to go other than away from the Well-Dressed Albatross, Brad and Ukifune found themselves at their alma mater. Unable to recover from the scandal of Mr. Love’s fate, the university had been sold to a developer who converted it into an Intentional Community.

Brad and Ukifune had slipped out of the Diner unbeknownst to the Well-Dressed Albatross, despite the fact that they’d been sharing a table and conversation. Closing time came, as it always will.

The Well-Dressed Albatross had grown ambivalent about reunions.

The Well-Dressed Albatross continued to wander through many lands, with less awareness of the things he passed even than the blinded Oedipus. At last he came upon a familiar place that suggested dim memories of happiness.

Huevos rancheros and a cool pitcher of water had never tasted better to Brad and Ukifune, around whom floated prospects as if recaptured from dreams.

In profound grief the Well-Dressed Albatross continued on his way. By the time he came upon Pim and Bim he’d forgotten that it was the thought of their untimely deaths that had brought him to this state. So finding them alive brought less relief and joy than it might have.

Coming upon the wreckage of the 18-wheeler, still branded as Pim and Bim Transport, the Well-Dressed Albatross assumed it was they who’d crashed, and assumed they’d died, and spent hours ruminating on lines of long dead elegists he’d been acquainted with (or believed he had.)

Mrs. Love hadn’t immediately taken Ukifune’s brain because she first wanted to secure the remains of Mr. Love. Knowing Ukifune was intelligent enough to escape with the truck, she’d attached a transponder to it, intending to deal with her later. Mrs. Love was not happy.

Nearing the end of their tether they at last came upon a familiar destination.