The three boys walked backwards from the picnic table into the bushes next to the river. Wendy and I read the note on the watch, put the watch in the ...ox, closed the box, took the key out of the lock, into my shirt pocket-sat-at-the-table-walked-to-the-car-shut-the-door-got-in-the-car-backed-into-the-parking-spot-backed-down-Washington-backed-down-Michigan-down-Capital-moved-past-the-cop-stopped-looking-at-the-rubble-backed-down-Capital. The watch stopped. I was too close to it. This changes. Kara understood.”“I’m telling you, we all think she’s the one for good reasons. How are things with Elyse and that girl from your class?”“Elyse is fine. She’s trying to sort out her feelings for me, which isn’t really a surprise. We’ve talked a lot and I think we’re in a good place. Stephie and I are friends. She has a boyfriend back home that she has to figure out how to handle if she even wants to kiss. She thought they had an agreement, but it turns out he didn’t think so.”“Oops. You didn’t. Maybe he thought I would think he was harassing me if he tried to follow up on it, but he seemed also to be giving me an opportunity, as he usually stayed right up until closing time. One night I saw my chance, as the one remaining staffer was anxious to leave for a date, so I told her to leave early, leaving just him and me alone. I locked the doors, as I usually do, and made my way to the locker room. "Closing up!" I announced, and heard an "OK, I'm dressed in answer." I entered and we looked. Whoever Frank Pezzo was, he was closely connected to the family of his own mortal enemies, which was odd enough, but on top of that, he seemed to have his personal harem, though he seemed to also share it with his brother, Jim. Damien also had the start of a harem of his own, so he wondered what he could learn of harem management, if any, from this Frank guy. He also racked his brain as to how this “Other” really affected him. He knew one thing, though: the Other seemed to give him a libido on.