Competition was tough: Skoda, VW, Citroen, Peugeot, Ford, BMW Jaguar, Kia, Honda, Nissan, Porsche, Laaka, Volvo, Saab, Fiat, Lancia, Vauxhall, Liger, ...imca, Daewoo, Bentley, Geely and Holden all had three or four factory sponsored teams with four hundred thousand dollar cars, support teams with lorries and there were independents with new cars.Then came the regular F-Cup racers, dealer sponsored teams and backyard mechanic built cars, daddy hobbies, and old restored racers.After those ... which. ”The bid was at twelve hundred Continental so when I said, “Twenty, silver,” things got right quiet. The fat man looked around and then brought down his mallet. “You done bought ‘er,” he said, “but you’re too damn big to horse ‘er.” The few people left laughed and shuffled out. I paid for my two purchases. The girl I had bought for no particular reason was not much bigger than the slave who was, I suppose, twice her age.“You got any other clothes?” I asked the shivering girl who had her arms. They're nothing to do with school; Aunties Jamie and Beverly chosethese. D'you really like them?" Gosh yes. They're really pretty. I like the coloured lacy edging." Yes, green for us sissies and pink for the girls. Well if you reallylike them, go and speak to Miranda. She's got a whole warehouse of themlocked away down that corridor."Julia had barely finished speaking before Jeanette span and patteredeagerly across the room to accost Miranda. I couldn't help but noticeJulia's admiring. But all of a sudden, whenever we parted she’d be checking with me when we could next be together. And our previous two or three nights a week together turned into five or six nights, with only my work sometimes keeping us apart. And most noticeable of all, whenever Sue talked about the future, it was always an ‘us’ and ‘we’ conversation, rather than an ‘I’ and ‘you’ conversation. As you can imagine, for a guy who’d come to New York questioning whether anyone would ever love him, I was on cloud.