.. I punched him hard enough to knock his ass on the ground. "That's for leaving me in jail for 3 months you fucking asshole!"At one time, Zip and I h...d gotten involved in a bit of... redecorating some public property. He'd used me as a distraction and let the cops take me while he got away. Then the bastard had gone and gotten himself killed in a botched store robbery while I was behind bars."And it's good to see you," I added, taking another look at Zip.There was something in his eyes that. Ohhhmy poor Mishka! She wanted to scream, to rage at the wanton destruction of her beloved Mishkabut she couldn't. All that came out of her mouth was a pathetic whimperingnoise. They hauled her along past the furnace to a large room with white tileson the walls and a stone floor. There were hoses and showers, and a metal barat waist height with rings bolted into the ground below. She was pushed againstthe bar so it was hard against her back above her buttocks. The men forcedher ankles apart. That was a trip. That evening I went across the street and rang the Pavel's doorbell. Mrs. Pavel came to the door and I asked to see Vivian and Valerie. They came into the living room and I said, "You probably already know that Pam had to leave town to attend a funeral so I'm without a date for the prom. I came over to see if you might be interested in going with me."They looked at each other and then one of them said, "Which one of us are you asking?" I was thinking more along the lines of. I half expected to hear some narrator start explaining how this was helping us bond into a more tightly knit tribal unit. All I know is that it was nice to have the two of them calmly and quietly working on my hair.I guess I kind of zoned out while they did that. I sat there with a cat purring on my lap and two women putting my hair into braids and let it all happen. Pearl and her grandmother chatted away in Chinese with Pearl translating into English every so often but I let most of that just.