You’ll recall that we left Pim and Bim in the desert, searching for an idea of what to do next.

Really, it was ages since Gwyneth had thought of the Well-Dressed Albatross. Shopping for tea one morning she’d found Gim languishing between two crates of Lapsang Souchong. She’d brought Gim home to care for and ever since they’d been as inseparable as Pim and Bim.

By the merest accident the Well-Dressed Albatross passed Joaquín’s haberdashery on Calle Galileo. Believing that Gwyneth would be moping over an endless trickle of tea and longing for his return, the WDA moved quickly past her window.

Despite Ukifune’s fair cookie sales and Brad’s bewildering impulse to teach himself Hungarian, the two were hard up for activities (the more so since it was clear that no one else intended to join the Intentional Community.)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that those relegated to the outskirts will eventually move towards the urban core. So it was for the Well-Dressed Albatross.

Meanwhile Mr. Love’s mind (or spirit, if that sits better with your metaphysics) continued its disembodied movement, like ignis fatuus hovering over the dark places of the Earth.

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.