I oscillate between wanting to protect her by telling her to put it back on and wanting to get her drunker so she’ll take more off. I’m half her ...ister, half her stalker and there really isn’t a middle ground. It fucks with my head. She fucks with my head. With friends like her, who needs drugs.Dannie fingers a cigarette out from Thomas’s cigarette case, lights it, and inhales some smoke. She turns towards me and breathes the smoke into my mouth. It takes all my concentration to – I don’t. They really had nothing to do till those still asleep woke up."Spades?" Billy asked."Sounds good," Candy replied."I'll go get the cards," Usagi added."Madam, I need a favor. I'm going to need excused absences for the following students — me, Regina Downing, Felicia Farrell and Oliver Christopher."Yes Madam, it's going very well so far..."Harry smelled them - a rich, overly ripe odor of decay, sweet and rotten - before he saw them. He walked into the bedroom and they were tangled in chains. "Turn my back on them and they sneak off surfing." Well, it is a family tradition," Buddha laughed. "How long are you staying?" Hard to say," Crystal said. "If it stays nice we may be a while. If it turns flat we may hit the road."As it turned out it stayed nice for several days. There were half a dozen surfers around, mostly college guys on an early break, but a couple of girls, too. The three of them were a little old for college guys -- how the hell did that happen? -- but a couple of them. Stepping away now, while you are still healthy and robust and able to enjoy life makes so much more sense instead of waiting until you are hospitalized and, sadly, have become a burden on all whom you love."The room was silent, so silent in fact that Jeff could hear the sounds of the others breathing. Finally, Randy spoke. "He makes a lot of sense, Dad, and what he says about his own challenge was very true. He could not find a way to set himself free from that girl, and he was dragging himself.