"Pervert!" she spat the word out, as if it were acid. "Panty thief!"* * *A month later, Pablo, his mother, and their attorney, a public defender,were ...n court. The arresting officer, John Thomas, was also present. Muchto Pablo's chagrin--and his mother's mortification--there were also adozen or so spectators in the courtroom, come to enjoy themselves at hisexpense.The black-robed judge, a handsome woman in her late forties with auburnhair, touched with gray, looked down from the bench,. I ... I love you too."She walked with me to the stairs, and I heard the sound of a soft kiss in the air near my cheek. She watched me all the way up.Instead of going to my room, I turned off the light at the top of the stairs and sat on the floor. I scooted far enough back from the top step that I couldn't be seen from below, while still being able to peek over the stairs. I could see into the living room below through the posts of the banister, and I'd discovered long ago that if I stayed low. It was along about 3:00 AM when one of the doors creaked open. Bob happened to be the one keeping watch at that time, so he punched me with his finger in the side, and I woke up immediately. Three men were slipping into the stable, and they wasn't all that skilled at it. They was wearing guns, but they was carrying clubs, so it was obvious what they had in mind.I had picked up my shotgun and thumbed back the hammer by the time Bob said, "Just what do y'all yahoos have in mind?" He wasn't going. It took her another minute to realize that Sharon was Henry’s girlfriend and Jenny was her father’s girlfriend.Mouth open, she asked, “You don’t mean?”Nodding in appreciation of the cosmic joke, Bill said, “Yep. Grandmother ordered this one.”Henry, trying to stifle a laugh, croaked, “Oh, the irony.”“Who said that God didn’t have a sense of humor?” asked Jerry as he held his side. He had a stitch from laughing too hard. Tears were running down his face as he gave himself over to the humor of the.