Here we are, servicing these dogs and plants, house-sitting in the valley for your aunt. We’re laughing because this is the last place we should be. We search the shelves. There is nothing we can eat. And all of these shampoos are animal-tested, too. There goes our dream of perfumed heads to compliment these pristine beds. Carmen…I never thought that this would be so hard. I mean, we both came from these luxuries. But, Carmen, you were right. This is our life. The rice has all gone cold and the record stopped an hour ago. And late at night, when the coffee’s cured our sleep, and the borders between skin and night are breached, we’ll make a fort from toppled furniture and lie in the dark, peering up at summer sky…to the gentle hum of appliances left on. We’ll slip off the clothes we always wear. The dogs are staring; let them stare. Chorus.