” “Come on then!” his grin made you think he was the boy who spent most of his school days standing in the corridor, banished from the lesson. �...�Hey, do you think I could call you mum yet?” he laughed, winking at his dad. They both laughed, and we left him talking to Ben. “Only if you want a stiletto heel through you eye socket,” I grimaced, as he took my hand and dragged me to the far end of the bar where a sullen looking young man was drinking alone, away from the masses in a dark corner, his. I said nothing, and when it came time to lead the afternoon session, I chose to spar with the black belts and brown belts.”“You did WHAT?!” Jessica demanded angrily.“I chose to spar with the black belts and brown belts,” I repeated calmly. “I had been doing that anyway, after a talk with Sensei Hiro and after he established some firm rules.”“Stephen Mark Adams!” Jessica said exasperated. “YOU CANNOT DO THAT!”“Jess,” I snapped forcefully, “I love you, but DO NOT EVER use that tone of voice with. Randy knew he had to get control of this situation before one of the biker dudes that were working security came over and started busting heads. Just what he needed was a picture of several bloody kids on the cover of the New York fucking times in the morning. Randy held his hands up and said, “Hey man, everything is cool. I was just asking the lady if she wanted to join the band at a little party after the show. Geez if you she doesn’t want to go all she needs to do is say no thank you. She. Once the food had been served and the waiter off to take care of other customers, the conversation at the table turned to more conventional topics. Still, even as they chatted about business and family, Ruth's mind kept returning to what Sarah had said about young men.When lunch was over and their good-byes had been said, Ruth walked the two blocks back to where she parked her car. Normally, she would've stopped by the store again on the way home. This time, she decided to head straight.