Chapter 160: Vitale, Part 20

Klempner

What's the obsession with potatoes?

I called her Potato Face when she was a kid.

What does she look like now?

Jenny was no looker at that age...

... But she matured. Bloomed.

Juliana... Never the same twice.

I scratch at my beard. I've never liked facial hair in hot climates, but I don't have a choice right now. Even so, the flourishing colony of lice that has stowed aboard adds an extra edge of irritation.

Lice...

Where the fuck did they come from?

Can rat lice live on humans?

Having a fucking good go at it...

I catch one, squeezing the revolting thing between my fingernails. It bursts with a Pop!

Only another 999 to go...

*****

The boredom's the worst. Endless hours. Endless days and nights. I've no idea how long.

The only breaks in the monotony are Juliana's visits: just long enough to sit, eat something at me, toss a potato at me.

No, not Juliana: Solana.

Why's she so obsessed with the name?