It took only a few minutes to string the net.Juan: You know Cher, I used to net twenty times that much swamp.Me: So what happened?Juan: I got old. Tha...'s what always happens to people. You be careful you don't get old.Me: Some days I doubt I will make it to be old. Some others I think I am a survivor and will live forever like a cockroach.I smiled because the conversation was one I might have had with a counselor, if I believed in their value. Juan also made me very comfortable. As he had said. Do you have an appointment?’ ‘No ma’am. Could you kindly have me rustled along to Uncle Ted Briscoe?’ ‘Oh God, you are the protégé.’ ‘What’s that?’ ‘Never you mind. You won’t understand. You are from Texas. Please follow me Mr Briscoe.’ ‘You know my name. New York has half a million people…’ ‘Or so.’ ‘… half a million or so people and you know my name? You must be psychic?’ ‘What’s that?’ ‘Never you mind. You won’t understand. You are from New York.’ Jed leapt out of his chair ready to lay. Maybe he just got caught up in traffic.”“I’m not talking until my lawyer gets here,” Rick says refusing to budge.“That’s too bad,” Lee comes back with. “Your daughter is probably cutting a deal right now. Maybe if you give me something I can put it through to the DA before hers.”“There is no way she is going to betray me,” the man says confidently. “We may have a few differences, but nothing that would get her to cut a deal.”“So the rape accusations and underage sex that she is going to give. There is a growing gap in Illakia between the poor and the middle class. You are largely born into your class, though leaps up and down are possible. Most of the poor are women. This is because there is a poll tax that only applies to women of five lira, the Illakian currency, a month. This is roughly equivalent to about ?5 sterling. This is small change for middle class women, but a major challenge for poor women, who also have to contend with a high taxation on textiles, making clothes.