The ability to understand Italian Opera was his reward for the effort it took to reach that level of proficiency.Max the Enforcer was simply another l...nguage, a tool, a method for blending in. No one had called him by his real name in over fifteen years. To everyone who knew his true name, he was dead, lost in an operation deep in a godforsaken Columbian jungle. Now, for the time being, he was Max the Enforcer. From experience, he knew that if one looked the part and spoke the part, no one. Where was I going to go anyway? I shouldn't be here..."You should take it easy for a few more minutes Rach..."I looked into his eyes, not sure I could tell the truth from any number oflies he'd fed me these past however many weeks. I sucked in a large gulpof air, working up the courage to speak. "Don't... Please don't hurt myfamily..." and the crying began again, uncontrollably, deep shudders, Ifelt broken... I rolled away from Brad, burying my face in the back ofthe couch.It was several. That would be almost four hundred new words in a year. He'd be smarter then Judge Mack in no time at all. Now he had to figure out how to get a spare two dollars and ninety-five cents without shorting his drnking money.Lee Roy into the rutted twin tracks leading from the highway to the bridge site. All thoughts of self-improvement were gone from his mind as he pulled up in front of Milt's office shack. Milt came out and directed him to take the form lumber over to the first piling site and. I made my way to the playground, humming and skipping like the little girl I was pretending to be. I wandered around the jungle gym and slides and seesaws, as if trying to decide what I wanted to play on first. Actually what I was doing was making sure that my new friend was still interested. I spotted him easily, crouched behind a trashcan, like the world's worst spy. I got on a swing, facing away from him, and started to hum the theme from Sesame Street as I went higher and higher. I slowed.