"It's the only thing I've found so far that I can drink," I said. "And sometimes not even that. Needs to be relatively pure."
"So no red wine."
"No red wine," I said.
My sister, with her healthy tan, put her hand on my hand. As she did so, she flinched imperceptively from the cold of my own flesh. She squeezed my fingers. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Sis."
"I am, too," I said.
"Can I ask you some more questions?" she asked.
"Were you just warming me up?"
"Yes and no."
"Fine," I said. "What else you got for me?"
"Does the blood, you know, have to be human blood?"
"Any mammalian blood will do," I said.
"Where do you get the blood?"
"I buy it."
"From where?" she asked.
"I have a contract with a butchery in Norco. I buy it by the month-load. It's in my freezer in the garage."