" Please, call me Elaine." Elaine was seated at the kitchen table, whileMarion fussed at the counter. Marion was still in her housecoat, whichseemed a...little unusual for her. At one end of the table, there werenotepads, pens and a laptop computer. Elaine had obviously set herselfup to work here."Sorry about my stuff, I hope it's not in the way. I don't have anappointment till this afternoon, and Marion was a little worried aboutyou, so I thought it best if I 'work from home', as it were - now. One day, I invited her over to my house after a day of shopping, guy watching, and of course guy flirting.Stephanie and I sat on the sofa as we talked about our day at the mall. We not only talked about what we bought at the mall, but we also talked about the guys we had flirted with."I saw how those brothas were checking you out over at Foot Locker and also at Finish Line." I said to Stephanie as I giggled."I know right, but those hot white guys at Abercrombie & Fitch were ready to hit on you. He chuckled to himself. Denise had been primping herself for well over an hour. Not that that was a bad thing, she was just a little nervous. And it wasn't that she'd been worried about choosing the right outfit to wear for the evening, she wouldn't be wearing one."Hold your horses!" Denise called down. "We don't need to even be there until seven!" she reminded him.Brian, Jason's best friend for the past thirty years was about to have the best surprise birthday party of his life. It had started. That was all he needed.I ran again. He bellowed angrily; gibberish again; shaking his rightfist high. I put my back to him and sprinted into the straight line ofshadow, instantly vanishing in the contrasted blackness.I turned left immediately and ran again, my hands out in front of me. Icould barely see a thing. I made a diagonal path toward the right wall,hoping to feel my way along, but my shin bashed up against somethingrigid and sharp and I yelled in agony, pitching forward, all.