Pleased to meet you Jack, I'm Belle," I saidsarcastically."No seriously. It's just a coincidence," he replied."Oh, in that case, I'm Sophie." As in th... dressmaker?" Wow, my reputation preceeds me. "A few of theparents from school have spoken about you, you've made flower girldresses for a few of their daughters."We got talking as we walked around the outside of the fields. With themusic blaring from the fair it was the best place to have aconversation."Did you really do Jessica's hair?" I asked. ‘I have no idea…’ He sat beside her on the dock and shook his head. His dreadlocks shook as well reminding her of snakes moving in the grass. ‘Oh I think you do, you’ve come to a new place, been surrounded by new people and new ways of doing things and you feel very out of place. But the truth is the bayou is as much in your blood as New Orleans and this place in Oregon you come from. Did you know that one of the Lazarus men married an ancestor of Beau’s many generations ago? His name was Jean. Or devise a way to get it. Or think of who I’d like to give it to. Or if I saw someone beautiful, I’d think they were more powerful, more special, just… more than me. Now when I see beautiful things I see waste. I see time wasted. I see days upon days melted away into nothing. Pictures that bring back no memory, faces that no longer make my pulse race. When I see beautiful people, I feel sorry for them. Beautiful people have so much further to fall, so much more disappointment to feel, when at. Mark'sAcademy for Boys in Los Angeles, and, although my studies areprogressing nicely, I am still homesick. It was November, and I havebeen away from home for over two months. I have always been an excellentstudent in grammar school and, from my earliest years, I have beensomething of a teacher's pet to the nuns at St. Stephen's. I am calledChris for short. I am almost 13; my birthday is on the first day of theyear. I am slight of build and shorter than all off the boys in myclass. I have.