The FM radio was tuned to Wyrld Ov Rock, which was his favourite channel because they always played a lot of hard rock and heavy metal. Some fairly la...d back rock ballad eased out of the car speakers as Dave steered out of Shoreville’s industrial estate and onto the main ring-road around town. A few minutes down the road, he signalled right and pulled into the inner lane, before turning off at the intersection sign-posted for the suburb of Venetia. Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up on the. A slim blonde woman was lying on the stoop. Her face was covered with bruises. Her clothes had been torn, as if she had been in a vicious fight. There was something familiar about her… I scooped her up and carried her inside, then laid her down on the sofa. ‘Let’s get you cleaned up, miss.’ I applied an antiseptic to the cuts on her face, then removed her tattered clothes. She was too weak to protest. More bruises and cuts covered her upper body. I applied more antiseptics, then drew her a. Nothing but a revolting, misunderstood pervert."I tried to draw him back to me, slowly. He followed my arm in, resting again underneath my shoulder. "You're not a pervert," I said, gently, "and you're not disgusting. No matter what you may think, or what anyone may tell you." I'm disgusting," Andrew insisted, quietly. "I'm ugly."I sighed. "You're not ugly, either," I said. In the privacy of my head, I screamed, 'No, you most definitely are NOT!'"I look in the mirror, and all I can see is a. “But?” she said.“Do you think he’d consider a job offer if I could arrange one? I mean one coming from us might be kinda pushing it, but he is into computers. I know people. I could arrange it if you think it would be a good idea to do so,” he said; “then he wouldn’t have to reup and risk his life over there.”“I—I don’t know. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to put it out there. I mean if his mood would allow him to consider something like that,” she said. The man nodded.“Okay, then, we’ll keep it in.