“What’s so special about this place?” Ulysses asked.“Um,” Denise started.“Ulysses, can we chat some?” Wendy interrupted.“Sure,” he s...id. He followed Wendy outside, the cool night air feeling great. Ulysses leaned against the rental car.“I’d love to properly thank you for babysitting. Wade suggested I could if I wanted to,” Wendy said.“Oh. It’s no problem. I enjoyed it. I’m enjoyed meeting him. I’d love to help anyway I can. Even if Wade is helping already,” Ulysses said.“You’re very. But I still remember my lost dream as clear as spring water: I was sitting on the upper deck of the royal barch, decorated with all the attributes of a Pharaoh and surrounded by half a dozen of little black slave girls from Kush - delightfully naked, except for the golden collars around their slender necks! And, as usual when I can't go back to sleep I walk down to the river, sit on the cool stones of the jetty and marvel at the sparkling night sky for hours. A pale moon hangs above me like a. “Okay, but you have to agree to my terms, and the first one is don’t disrespect my marriage and my family. Are we clear? That goes for you and for Jessica, is that clear?” I insisted.“Yes, Abe. Absolutely, crystal clear. I miss you, Abe. Jessica misses you, too. I’m going to hell, anyway, according to my family, so why not? Ironically, despite her anger at me, only Jessica will even talk to me these days,” Christy thanked me over the phone.“I’ll come over whenever the snow melts and find you.. At high school I had been so moody, bullied and socially awkward that I had never ever spent any time with any girl ever. And yet now I was coming out of my shell so fast I was at risk of doing something really stupid. I should have been thinking about things from Alice’s angle, knowing how it is to be an outsider on the edge of school life being pursued by a horny new boy, but I couldn’t. But luckily it was turning out ok — I think she was warming to me, warming to having a friend.We agreed to.