What could have made them so pissed at her? Then she realized what she had called them.“Oh. I’m so sorry! I would never call you niggers. Wait! Th...t came out wrong. Look I was just trying to ask if I could get a smoke!” Her words were slurred and nothing would come out quite the way she meant it. To make matters worse she let out a nervous giggle as she tried to explain herself. That didn’t help at all.“Motherfuck! You just did it again! The only thing you gonna be smoking is my pole ‘for I get. No one believed such a continuous expenditure of focused energy possible, short of a nuclear detonation. At the end everyone could see a double ridge of ice and snow piled high down the length of the island. It extended for many miles, laying open the island's center. Their sea-level angle of view from the ship allowed no look into whatever lay between the ridges, but they assumed some great trench must be exposed to the sky.All that remained of the eruption was a slowly-dissipating. But maintaining this collective secret is… a team effort.” Barnes scowled, knowing where I was going with this. “Everybody contributes what they can, and seeing as you’re a United States senator, I’m afraid it’s no small sum in order for you to join.”“How much do you want?” he growled.“Half,” I said calmly. His expression turned quizzical.“Half of what?”“Half of the money your corrupt lobbyists are contributing toward your campaign for governor.”He clenched his teeth. “And if I refuse? If I. My dress rode up my legs as I lay there looking at the ceiling, the beams of wood leading across the top. Boxes lined the walls filled with all kind of things, Alison and I had played among them when we'd been younger, stealing away up the steps to sort through them. Old dresses from bygone eras ... costume jewelry so elaborate it had to be fake and books ... including some lurid ones with scantily dressed women on the covers.Now I was alone, my fingers drifting on my things, caressing them.