“There was this one episode of Star Trek,” said Alex.
“God no,” said Alder, and hit him with a pillow.
“No, listen, they asked Kirk to be a spy –“
“No, they didn’t.” She threw the blanket over him and tried to sit on him. He’d get his head free and she’d cover it up again.
” — not a spy spy, like an internal affairs spy –“
“Never happened!”
” — no, wait, hey, dammit, this really happened! –“
“I swear to God,” said Alder, “I swear it didn’t. You dreamt it. You made it up.”
“No, come on, listen, they made him a spy –” He had to snatch bits and pieces of a sentence every time he came up for air, shouted over the covers, gasped from between the circle of her arm and leg, wherever he could.
“God, not another one of these stories. Listen, man, you dreamed it, you made it up. All of these stories are the same. You’re such a little kid. ‘One time I saw a squirrel fall out of a tree and walk away what do you think about that?'”
“– the episode was called ‘Garbageman’–“
“It never existed. That never happened.”
Eventually she won, of course, but by that point Alex was happy to lose.