But they were going to find out that I was not to be ignored.Saturday's ball. It was going to be a formal "Coming Out Ball". These had really come bac... into fashion in that last few years. The idea of a dance or party to celebrate your sixteenth birthday was as old as the status of sixteen as the age of majority, but these days it was more, much more. This "Ball" was going to be where my parents displayed their newly adult son to the world for inspection and approval — and, as I had no doubt,. She came back a few minutes later, locked the door behind her and sat down at her desk. I could hear the heavy wooden drawer slide open as she retrieved my drawing from the depths of her desk. The moment had finally come. “JD, come up here please.” It was the first time she had ever called me anything but “Mr. Corwin,” I didn’t know what to expect. I stood before her like a man ready to face the firing squad, ready for anything, but she caught me off guard as she patted the chair next to her,. It was the first time she'd put any thought towards him since she'd cleared her mind going home on Friday. In fact, she was surprised that she hadn't thought about him during the entire weekend, and she found that that too, bothered her. "After all, I shouldn't be thinking about him hardly at all," she told herself. "I mean, he's just a nice guy who buys me my coffee in the morning and had lunch with me a couple of times." Then looking around the kitchen, she told herself, "This is my real. But we were wealthy now, fair compensation for an attempted murder as we both agreed."He had quite a bit of money," I confided to her. She merely blinked at that, and somehow I got the feeling she was not too interested. But her eyes still held mine from underneath her hood, and her foot returned to my knee."And why did he- Or even, how did do the fire thing? The door burst into flame like a bonfire that was bathed in oil by some enthusiastic, drunker reveler! Who can do such a thing?" He was a.