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Part One

What Would You Do for Love?

Chapter 1

Aat the moment of his birth Most people live in denial of Death's patient courtship until, late in life and deep in sickness, they beco bedside

Eventually, Mitchell Rafferty would be able to cite the nize the inevitability of his death: Monday, May 14,11:43 in the hth birthday

Until then, he had rarely thought of dying A born optimist, charmed by nature's beauty and amused by humanity, he had no cause or inclination to wonder when and how his mortality would be proven

When the call came, he was on his knees

Thirty flats of red and purple irance, but the fertile smell of the soil pleased him

His clients, these particular homeowners, liked saturated colors: red, purple, deep yellow, hot pink They would not accept white blooms or pastels

Mitch understood them Raised poor, they had built a successful business by working hard and taking risks To them, life was intense, and saturated colors reflected the truth of nature's vehemence

This apparently ordinary but in fact , the California sun was a buttery ball The sky had a basted sheen

Pleasantly warnatius Barnes His brow glistened His chin dripped

At work in the say looked boiled From May until July, his skin responded to the sun not with melanin but with a fierce blush For one-sixth of the year, before he finally tanned, he appeared to be perpetually embarrassed

Iggy did not possess an understanding of syn, and he couldn't be trusted to triood if not intellectually bracing company

"You hear what happened to Ralph Gandhi?" Iggy asked

"Who's Ralph Gandhi?"

"Mickey's brother"

"Mickey Gandhi? I don't know him, either"

"Sure you do," Iggy said "Mickey, he hangs out so Thunder"

Rolling Thunder was a surfers' bar

"I haven't been there in years," Mitch said

"Years? Are you serious?"

"Entirely"

"I thought you still dropped in sometimes"

"So I've really been missed, huh?"

"I'll admit, nobody's named a bar stool after you What—did you find so Thunder?"

"Reo?" Mitch asked

"Sure You had great seafood tacos, but the band oofy"

"They weren't woofy"

"Man, they had tambourines"

"We were on a budget At least they didn't have an accordion"

"Because playing an accordion exceeded their skill level"

Mitch troweled a cavity in the loose soil "They didn't have finger bells, either"

Wiping his broith one forearenes I break a sweat at fifty degrees"

Mitch said, "I don't do bars anye"

"Yeah, but can't you doThunder?"

"I'd just rather be home than anywhere else"

"Oh, boss, that's sad," said Iggy

"It's not sad It's the best"

"If you put a lion in a zoo three years, six years, he never forgets what freedom was like"

Planting purple impatiens, Mitch said, "Hoould you know? You ever asked a lion?"

"I don't have to ask one lama lion"

"You're a hopeless boardhead"

"And proud of it I'ot my freedom"

"Good for you, Iggy And what do you do with it?"

"Do hat?"

"Your freedom What do you do with your freedom?"

"Anything I want"

"Like, for example?"

"Anything Like, if I want sausage pizza for dinner, I don't have to ask anyone what she wants"

"Radical"

"If I want to go to Rolling Thunder for a few beers, there's nobody to bitch at me"

"Holly doesn't bitch"

"I can get beer-sla to ask when a home"

Mitch began to whistle "Born Free"

"Soy said, "I'm free to rock and roll"

"They're co on to you all the time—are they?—those sexy wahines?"

"Women are bold these days, boss They see what they want, they just take it"

Mitch said, "Iggy, the last ti to be president"

"That's not so long ago"

"So what happened to Ralph?"

"Ralph who?"

"Mickey Gandhi's brother"

"Oh, yeah An iguana bit off his nose"

"Nasty"

"So, so Ralph and soe"

The Wedge was a fa spot at the end of the Balboa Peninsula, in Newport Beach

Iggy said, "They packed coolers full of sub"

"Ming?"

"That's the iguana"

"So it was a pet?"

"Ming, he'd always been sweet before"

"I'd Expect iguanas to be moody"

"No, they're affectionate What happened was so, slipped Ming a quarter-dose of meth in a piece of salami"

"Reptiles on speed," Mitch said, "is a bad idea"

"Meth Ming was a whole different aniy confirmed

Putting down his trowel, sitting back on the heels of his work shoes, Mitch said, "So now Ralph Gandhi is noseless?"

"Ming didn't eat the nose He just bit it off and spit it out"

"Maybe he didn't like Indian food"

"They had a big cooler full of ice water and beer They put the nose in the cooler and rushed it to the hospital"

"Did they take Ralph, too?"

"They had to take Ralph It was his nose"

"Well," Mitch said, "we are talking about boardheads"

"They said it was kinda blue when they fished it out of the ice water, but a plastic surgeon sewed it back on, and now it's not blue anymore"

"What happened to Ming?"

"He crashed He was totally amped-out for a day Now he's his old self"