But Timmy's condition had developed early and therefore appeared very pronounced. His mother had him wear over-sized sweaters even in the hottest summ...rs to hide his shame and humiliation.But now his secret was out. Worse still, these boys, the meanest bullies in the school, were the only ones to know Tim's secret and they had every intention of using that knowledge to Tim's detriment and their nasty enjoyment. But they were smart enough not to squander their good fortune right away. They. Several men who had been watching and listening then approached. Not long after that, it was three lines of business since Ronan had stayed home to look after the dragons.It was surprising how many of the common folk could come up with a rotak to buy a bag. Ricky knew that for most of then the crystals were going to be used to fix a lot of items that they and their extended family had, that needed them. Some would try to sell the crystals on, but that wasn’t his problem.Ricky was quite sure. A taxi took me to the storage facility where I’d put aside the restored pickup truck.I found an open diner and ordered a steak breakfast. While waiting for it to come up I put a couple quarters in the newspaper machine. The headlines screamed about the disaster that decimated the government office holders in DC. I snorted and said to myself, “I’d do it again in a heartbeat”An old woman sitting at the counter heard me. “Child, did you have somethin’ to do with all this?” I looked her in the eyes. “That's what my Legislative Advocate told me to say if anyone official asked.” I replied. “No, that's what your advocate told you to say when the magistrates come asking for bribes?” I lectured. “Bribes?”“What? You thought you'd run your little side business without bribing anyone?” I chuckled at his naivete. “Well sure, an occasional inspector or maybe a magistrate but-” “My advice, bribe the bureaucrats at the municipal offices. They all think they're underpaid and usually are responsible.