Business was lousy, especially at night. College towns tended to be overloaded with tanning salons, and most of the students tended to use ones that were within staggering distance of campus rather.

With no customers, and no supervisor, Maggie and Rae took their smoke breaks frequently and just outside the salon under the protective awning of the mini-mall and the harsh glow of neon signs.

A lone pedestrian cut through the parking lot, probably walking from the nearby apartments to the Chinese buffet just down the road.

“Hey!” Maggie called. “You need to tan?”

“Does this look like it tans?” the pedestrian said, flashing a dead-fish white forearm. “The sun never shines in Ireland, so we never evolved that ability!”