We ride the rest of the way in silence.
* * * *
Instead of ice cream we end up wrestling with a waiter at some restaurant. It takes forever to order because this Nikki person can't bring herself to behave like a human being. One table doesn't have enough light, one's too drafty, one has people sitting near it. Then she has to find out how the meals are prepared, and changes all the ingredients around. Mainly, she can't find anything that's strictly vegetarian.
It figures she'd be a vegetarian. Before I can even comment on that she “enlightens” me: “The primary source of energy for our solar system is the sun, the emanations of which are harvested directly by plant life, making plants a cleaner source of energy. You wouldn't put used oil in your engine, would you? I thought not."
"I don
