Then Alisha moved away and Tommy started to have deep, painful regrets. He wore the same Daffy Duck sweatshirt for three months and drank alone in his trailer. It was said that those three months were not cool at all. It could have been the end of a legendary dude. But Tommy came out of hiding on the crest of a new summer. He had conceived of a ritual. The Tommy Greco ritual. Only to be performed under dire circumstances. 100% effective. And the last wall is just below this final grate where only truly heartbroken dudes can proceed.

Triangle Phil and Moto finish reading at the same time and glance at each other. Triangle Phil in his sorbet colored beach shirt and Moto in his violet alpaca sweater. Phil nods and Moto opens the grate. Then Triangle Phil descends into total darkness, heartbeat like a baseball card in the spokes.

Jessica comes back to him. She floats through his peripheral thoughts while his main senses deal with fear and dread. He thinks about turning back. He thinks maybe heartbreak will fortify him in the long run. He thinks he can get over Jessica the old fashioned way. With malt liquor. With a blonde girl. With his fist on a bassist’s jaw. But then his foot hits the ground. Triangle Phil pulls out his flashlight.

Deep under the molting avenues of Vowel City, under the notorious steam tunnels, Triangle Phil finds the vault of the last holy wall. The surface is white and ceramic, cracked in some places. It looks like it’s part of some mondo space ship that fell to earth, like something no one should fuck with. But several people have fucked with it, there are tags on it, including Tommy Greco’s legendary 007. And now, it’s clear to Triangle Phil that the moment of his salvation is at hand. So he lets Jessica do one more lap around him on roller skates then he puts the triangle on the wall.