"I'm going to spend the day alone with your brother. Even though your whole family is in town, and you've been telling me for days that they're dying ...o meet me. And you really don't mind?" "I know it can be a bit much, with all of them around. Wouldn't want to put you through that any sooner than necessary," I said. Then, with a grin, I added, "Besides, this way, I get a few hours without having to tell you that, no, I don't think it will rain. You know, when the weatherman says there's a five. I pick it up in my right hand and transfer it to my left. In the transference, you see the wickedly sharp blade and vicious point. Fear courses through you, mixed with adrenalin; it drives the last lingering effects of the ketamine out of your system and makes you forget completely, the other tools on the top tray of the stainless steel gurney. At last, the ability to speak returns; your first words are a plea in a whispered voice.“Don’t hurt me please.” It is a forlorn and pitiful cry. The. He also happens to be Mary Beth’s other best friend and Brandon’s boyfriend. (Yes, boyfriend.) When Brandon asked Cody out at the beginning of junior year, even the close group of friends was shocked. While Cody has been ‘out’ since freshman year, Brandon never let on that he was gay. While he never dated anybody at the school, nobody thought he was gay. Because there was no one willing to take on Brandon, they were able to walk hand in hand through the school without anyone bothering them.. Anyway, we were tired. All of us. Shiggie, with his background of year-round conditioning and grueling workout schedules in Japan, was in better physical condition, probably, than anybody. But Shiggie was tired, too. Maybe his weariness came from the emotional trial he'd been experiencing.The players were being kind, now. The locker room was no longer a problem. Occasionally, Shiggie would hear it from opposition players, or fans hollering at him from the stands.The Japanese press was still.