the mountains, shining with snow, rising in the background, like something out of movie, like nothing anywhere in either Chicago or Miami, like a dream of a cleaner and better world.

Man. So. This was the part where I *started* crying.


"Right." Kowalski nodded at the pile of kindling. "So, how about you haul that in, and you can have a nice quiet talk with Fraser."

"Me? Carry that shit?"

Kowalski shrugged, turning away. "I gotta feed the dogs."

"It's all splintery, damn it, it's going to snag my sweater! You know how much I spent on this sweater?"

This was the part where I started crying harder as I laughed.

Because this was perfect and perfectly awful and I kind of hate you, it's so good.