The judges have scored it as a nine-point-nine-five, which moves Madeleine-" I arched an eyebrow."Leydon," she supplied."-Leydon into first, and assur...s her of at least a silver medal." I stopped to take a breath, and was rewarded with a musical laugh, reminiscent of ringing bells. Switching off my Olympic announcer voice, I said, "So, why were you running down the wrong escalator?" Why were you?" she countered."I was in a hurry." So was I." But I'm by myself. You, on the other hand, have to. Whitbourne suddenly looked uncomfortable as he scanned the balcony and failed to recognise anyone in the front row seats. Paul Keane stood, as part of the security team, impassively at the side of the court and his eyes roamed the building checking its inhabitants. He spotted Sydney. At first he wasn’t sure that the old man who gave him a small smile was his friend until briefly the disguise dropped and he saw the familiar dark-blue eyes and black hair. The man was in the shadows of the balcony. Indeed. Mme darkness. + When I arrived home the next night she was still there in my cellar, naked,her skin glowing in the light of the fire she'd rekindled, her wounds healing,asking me yet again to read to her from the manuscript. What was I to do? This time I said no. But it wasn't the right species ofno. I had been thinking about her every moment of every minute of the day,as I planed, and sawed, and chattered, and affected interest in the rest ofhumanity. All day I had thought of nothing. We shared a cigarette.And then Larry got up, put his clothes on and wandered back to his room. He didn’t even notice the door being wide open.I rolled a joint and waited for the shit storm. But none came. So I lay back on my bed and waited some more, and wondered, and worried. Maybe that was the punishment.It was just after one a.m. when I woke to the repetitive thud of a headboard and Mum’s unabashed slut song trying to bring the house down. Larry was doing her again, and she was making.