I sipped the remainder of the champagne in the flute and picked up mypurse, putting my room key and a credit card inside. I didn't know then,but I was...'t going to need the credit card.I pranced down the corridor with the deep oriental carpet, placing onefoot in front of the other in time with the soft, piped-in music. Ientered the glass elevator with two other couples. One of the womengasped when I turned and she saw my back, framed by the dress. I leaneddown to adjust the strap on my right. They tried to rent a room at the Winthrop motel to stay while they work things out, and they found their checking and savings accounts have been seized. If they hadn’t been driving back from the lawyer’s office in Okanogan, they’d have lost their car, too.”Mike swore softly under his breath.“Tell them they’re not alone in this. Of course, they’re not alone! Tap into our reserve funds; set up a new bank account. Call it our ‘Pasayten Peak legal defense fund.’ Issue a cash stipend of two thousand. And I’ve seen that Charlene; she’s a nice girl.” They all laughed together then. “OOPS!” Charlene and Tommy said simultaneously, as Tommy and Elaine’s flaccid penises slid out of their respective cocoons. Elaine sat up. “I am freaking starving,” she said. “Do you have any food in the house, Charls?” “I was just thinking about some eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice and coffee,“ Charlene replied. “Lainie, why don’t you start a load of laundry, while I see what I can scare up in the kitchen. Oh,. The tent lies ahead, reaching into the sky, circusy and colourful, striped, slanted, big. The edges turned up slightly, bulging down and arcing up, water collected in the distended material, water balloons sighing with envy. She glances back at me, catching my gaze for a second. Something glistens in her eye slightly, from the rain probably; but maybe not. My breath catches slightly in my throat. Not the rain.The bench she leads me to is covered by the tent, but only barely. Wind shifts and.