” I had no idea what she meant until we were getting dressed and I realized she was not putting any panties on under her short skirt – hmmm, Trac...y never went without underwear!. Now I was intrigued but I decided to say nothing. A half hour later we entered the shoe store, still nothing having been said by either of us about the panties or lack thereof. After a few minutes Tracey selected a pair of shoes and asked a young salesman of about 20 to help her try them on. Now I was beginning to. ‘Did you?’ she asks with a glare, and it’s not a glare I like. More because the red of anger glows hot around her, the red hot that burns your eyes to look at rather than keeps your warm and makes you feel at home. ‘Umm… yes?’ Suddenly I don’t feel so good. Athena signals to her secretary who’s dressed as a court recorder or a legal secretary or whatever they’re called. The secretary hits a few buttons that causes to be brought up the security recording of the scene of yesterday’s job. There’s. It’s not even past’.”“That’s good. Where’s it from?”“Requiem for a Nun. We read it in school.”“Another difference between Perth and Scotch. We read no Faulkner.”“Is that good or bad?”“Who knows? I still find his Mississippi unfathomable.”“Cozzens didn’t like him. He wrote that ‘Faulkner falsified life for dramatic effect. It’s sentimentality disguised by the corncob.’ And that was after Faulkner got the Nobel Prize.”“I think the Nobel Prize in Literature has been more political than. Her eyes flickered open and she blinked a few times before turning to look at him.“Hey. Did you talk to her?”Calvin nodded slowly.“Yeah.” He felt dazed, drunk on Sofia and the night. “Yes. Everything’s fine. It’s all arranged.”Ivy smiled. She inched closer and kissed him sweetly on the mouth.“I’m so excited,” she whispered, “It’s going to be the best day of my life.”*But it wasn’t.“This is literally the worst day of my life,” Ivy wept.Everything had been in place. The sun was out. Everything.