But she was afraid, too, of being late.As soon as Lila was able to walk she took her to the last officer. Still unable to talk, Lila kneeled in the fo...er of the house. This was the most junior of the officers in Al-Mansour's domain; not the youngest though. The officer was an obese man, way past his prime, whose bulbous red nose betrayed that he ignored, at least one of the prohibitions that a good Muslim should follow. His slurred speech showed why, at his age, he was still such a junior. “What? Oh!” I came back up. “Yea. I dropped my penis. My penis. My penis.” I was trying to say ‘my pen’ but I kept saying ‘penis’. Kristen was horrified. Everyone stared at me. I looked at Jim and Lisa out of the corner of my eye and they were still going at it. With everyone looking at me I guess they were safe.“My pen. I dropped my pen. I’m sorry.” I put my face into my hands. Kristen let out a giggle. Then everyone laughed.“That’s ok, Greg. I’m sorry I’m laughing. You just said ‘penis’ so. She was funny and always had a good comeback; while she wasn't in the best cliques, she was certainly well liked.Ken and Helen started going out, and after seeing them together for a while, it made me realize that I wanted to ask Gemma out. However, before I did, I decided to ask my mother about it."Mom, how do I ask a girl out?" I asked her."Are you interested in someone in particular, or is this a hypothetical question?" she asked."Gemma," I told her.My mother had met Gemma when she had been. ‘What?’ he said. ‘Nothing to worry about. You’ve just had an epileptic seizure,’ the doctor said. Shadrach tried to sit up. ‘No, just wait a moment or two,’ the doctor said. And then Shadrach noticed me. ‘Sam! No school today? Or am I dreaming again?’ ‘It’s Halloween,’ I said. ‘And Exeat Weekend. Mother has made you soul cakes.’ Shadrach sniffed the air. ‘Oh, yes. Very nice.’ For a moment or two he just lay there. And then he said to the doctor: ‘What happened, Doc?’ ‘I was just going by — on.