"I hope someone else is driving home, mom," Rich laughed."I hope so too," she giggled, pointing at me. "I still don't know which one of you spiked my ...rinks!" It seemed like the funniest thing in the world to her."Ah, you know it was me," Terry admitted. "I was trying to get you drunk and take advantage of you."Everyone laughed except me. Rick picked up on that and said, "Yep, he's sober enough to drive."I managed to force out a tiny smile."Did you find your brother yet," she asked with a wet. More specifically, they were my teammates on my football team. I didn’t hesitate as I stepped up and asked what was going on. I was gratified to see most had stopped their harassment as soon as they saw me. That didn’t stop Ricky Wilson, our second string quarterback from hauling off and cuffing the kid one last time with an opened hand slap. As Rick reached back to slap the crying kid again, I stepped in front of him and grabbed his arm to prevent him from hitting the kid. ‘What the hell is. She sat at the edge of the bed, looking very pensive. “Can we talk?” “Sure,” I replied, wondering what was going on, and why Meredith felt the need to sneak into my room in the middle of the night. I didn’t have to wonder long. “Do you ever think about me when we aren’t, you know, doing ‘stuff’?” “What do you mean?” “I mean… well, I want there to be more between us than what there is now.” “But I thought that both of you wanted the way things are.” “I do, but maybe not for the same. I just need to keep tr ... where... ? Melissa? Gary? My kids are missing. Where did they get to...”“I’m watching them, Mom!” Angela pointed to where the six-year-old girl and the eight-year-old boy had decided that if no one else was interested in staying in line, then it was okay to take cuts. Gary was helping his sister into Santa’s lap.“Thank you honey. Mom’s going to be busy for a bit. Can you keep track of them and not stray too far?” Thank goodness the middle school had lost power today..