By increments, I undermined those of the rival families that seemed to be causing the most trouble. Eventually, the heads of those families got the me...sage and put out the word to stop their activities against my family.We were now no longer a lesser family, having risen in the ranks to the degree that we were not to be bullied with impunity, the other families were a bit slow to realize that. Abram couldn’t have been happier. It cemented our relationship, and the rest of the family was falling. For the following year I told anyone who asked that I was not a virgin. Id had sex, Id done drugs, my parents were getting a divorceI was not popular, but you couldnt say I was prissy. Then, the summer before I turned seventeen, I went to work on the kitchen staff at a hippie sleepaway camp. Every morning I got up early to set up the hot cocoa station, every night I put the chairs on top of the tables and mopped the dining hall floor. In August, I had three days off, and one of the counselors. At first he was skeptical that they weren't just teasing him about the possibility of Mara having sex with him; and yet, as they chatted over the next days, his skepticism began to fade into something more like excitement!He chatted with Tomas a little bit, but he mainly chatted with his wife, Mara; and he quickly learned that this was not a couple who were merely teasing. In fact, when he found out that Mara had had an African bred baby the year before (in Kenya), that was when he understood. ‘Hello, Triple A? I …I have a flat…can you tell me how long it will be? Uh huh.. Thank you… Yes.. Yes, since 1996. Last name O’Mally, First name Catriona.’ Very, very nice. She gave the address in Hyde Park, snapped the cell phone closed and turned to see the portly Vice President, and the pseudo grieving widow. With a contrite smile, Cat murmured softly. ‘Oh…Sorry.. I needed a quiet place, didn’t want to bother you. I remembered the way, I hope you don’t mind. I, need to wait for a return.