." Julie said. "He somehow got caught in one of those adjustable rate mortgages. They have now raised his interest rate, so he's having problems meeti...g his payment on his apartment house loan." Craig, He's such a good man," Julie said."He's held off raising my rent for several months now knowing the children and I are having a hard time"Pulling up to Julie's Apartment entrance, a somewhat dreary building, they noticed a man out watering his flowers."Oh... , there's Mr. Canfield now," Julie. ." I'm having a real good time already." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I took her hand, turned it over and caressed her palm with my fingertips. "What's that for?" she asked.I turned my hand over and placed it beside hers. "Our palms are almost the same color." All Black folks are like that," she replied."I know. For some reason it just struck me right now." She squeezed my hand and gave me a smile that wrinkled her nose. "Steffi we have to figure out what we're doing for the party. Jessie headed back into the bathroom, leaving the three of us guys together. Andrew was always quiet, which I appreciated more than ever now. Ben, not so much, and he was totally comfortable even in this context. I wont even waste space here with the stuff he was saying. I dont even care if he sees this writing. Lets just say he was eager to comment on Jessie, on us guys, on the situation and on the extent of what we were about to do. Neither Andrew nor I really acknowledged him, but it didnt. But that was the extent of his good qualities.Robert was an atheist by personal inclination and a Protestant by birth. He was commonly referred to by the nickname Stil for reasons never explained. He seemed to be known to every young woman on campus who uniformly treated him with an uncommon familiarity. Every girl on campus seemed to regard him with amusement and hide a knowing smirk when his name was mentioned. Father feared the worst and had been disappointed the first time Mary had dragged.