I wasn't sure what to expect after I told Veronica Blake that I would attend Gordon Ceres' party – I certainly wasn't ready for the invitation that ...rrived a couple days later – but I figured that, if he went to the trouble of printing invitations, it was pretty unlikely he was trying to lure me to my doom out of revenge, so..."So what exactly is 'dinner casual'?" I asked Christine when she showed me the invitation. She had forbidden me to open the mail after the first week, saying, "David, I'm. "And she looks likeshe does too. Or at least she looks interesting and a bit different." Ah, heavy metal. I see. You like her clothes, Jessie? You like the wayshe is dressed?" Yes sir, I think she looks very attractive in those clothes." I know what you mean, Jess" Roger replied thoughtfully. "But do youthink girls like that like boys who dress up and a bra and panties?Well?" I don't know.... I..." Well, I do know! Girls like that like real men." I don't know. I just liked the picture" I said,. . Carmen I..." Has it anything to do with what can be termed as a matter of my heart as well?" Carmen interrupted him."It has." Then Felipe please," said Carmen in as compassionate a voice as she could administer, "Save me the trouble of refusing, and yourself the pain of a refusal, by holding your tongue... there are things I must accomplish before I am free to follow my own hearts path. Please try to understand Felipe. It has nothing to do with you. You are a very caring and thoughtful man,". We also had to be approved by the home-owners association. During our meeting with president of the association he told us something that I never thought of, or experienced."You know, in the early sixties you would never have been allowed into the association. This was a very WASP-orientated area; no Italians allowed. Times have changed of course; now several of the board members are Italian."In December, we began the renovation of our summer cottage. The first thing we did was throw out most.