After they passed the point of eating without talking (because Griff had only eaten half a pizza in the locker room after the game, and because it took almost an hour to get to Santa Cruz, counting the stop for whipping cream), Griff asked Caydance a question: "What is it that you want to tell me but keep avoiding -- about the artist who probably created the book_object_without_a_key?"
"The game film looks something like this", she began.
"First, you see a picnic in the woods with a group of art friends. One of them is me; one of them was not invited. That would be Mackie Alarie, who had twice asked me for a date and twice been rejected."