He was available, reliable, and as one of the neighbors she had watched him grow over the years from being a gawky gangly boy to become a good looking...young man.With light brown hair and a clear complexion he was handsome and he carried himself proudly with no pretense. Having spent a year as an exchange student he was a smart guy set to graduate high school in the spring at 19. Sam liked to get his school work done right away on Fridays so that he wouldn’t have to think about it for the rest. “I mean we’ve already controlled you!”“I- what? How?”I hadn’t felt any weird jolts or muscle twitches. Except for when I stumbled in my heels, perhaps, but I think that was just me being clumsy.“Everything you wrote on the board, Gemma, that wasn’t you. That was the other subject -- we asked him to do exactly that.”I stared at him. Was this just some psychological test to see if you believed anything a researcher told you?“I... think you’ve made a mistake, I was just doodling.”“No, see, we. But you just said that you never went to college? I dont understand. Thats what Im trying to tell you. OK: when I told you I transferred to go to school here, you sort of assumed I was going to college&hellip,and I&hellip, sort of let you&hellip, assume&hellip, that&hellip, Her words began to separate with pauses as she was connecting the dots for me. Her words soaked in for a few moments when she continued, But I was being honest when I said I didnt have a major picked out for college and I. She quickly fed fresh shells into the magazine. She knew if it got bad she wouldn’t have time to reload, so she needed to keep it full for when the time came.The riders regrouped under shelter of the trees. “Goddamnit, Preacher! That can’t be little girls in there. You shore your eyes are as good as they used to be?”The man got a quirt across the face that knocked him from the saddle. Preacher was sitting over him, his own shotgun pointed at him. “Never ever take the Lord’s name in vain boy. Do.