On the Santa Cruz wharf, where Griff had an unerring sense of how to find good food in informal places, they were eating hamburgers, French fries, and onion rings. The tables were covered with red checked cloths; many condiments occupied the center of each table; and the hamburgers, French fries, and onion rings were memorable in that (without having to search through a menu-dominated array of exotic ingredients) they were exactly what was wanted.

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."