To be honest, because I felt the way I did, I thought his bad reputation was more of my doing and my immediate family never knew the true extent of my...own involvement, and I took pity on him, thinking he was taking a hit for me, when in reality, they were right and I was wrong.We were living a really threadbare existence, spending too much and in dept before the next wage packet. We were out one night drowning our sorrows and met this really flashy guy, he had been staring at me all night and. Alan's Turn:I'm up to my eyeballs in this stuff, you know. Business is going well. I flew to Houston to meet with a one of the big engineering houses. They want to farm out some project work. We can handle it quite well. It's a good mix for our gang. Control things, mostly, a little electrical power, and between me and two Dans and Jason, we can do this. Put some money in the company coffers. Give the girls something to see and maybe participate in. I'm looking at the programming for some of it. Mrs. Wright told me. My report card, I'm getting an A minus."Tami hugged her. "That's wonderful."They both looked down at me, sitting on the floor, my back against my locker."Are you going to sit down there all day? Or are you going to help Allie celebrate?" Well, I don't know if I can get a hotel room for the three of us on such short notice," I said, climbing to my feet. "And I have a game in two hours."Allie blushed."No, that would be you celebrating," Tami accused, punching me in the. He showed up whenever his class load and homeworkallowed, which was generally for a couple of hours twiceor three times during the week, and most of the day onSundays.One afternoon I had to attend a meeting, so I left aspare key in the agreed-on hiding place with a noteexplaining my absence and outlining the work Jack was tofinish up.Well, the meeting was called off at the last minute, soI drove back home and let myself in. I heard a strangesound coming from the den, so I quietly went to see.