Like me, Joyce was using Brenda as a lure. Unlike me, Joyce was aiming her at the other wives, not just Emily.In the end, I decided that no harm would...come from it, and I believed that Brenda had received far more attention from all the other wives in the past than she had ever reciprocated. This would help to balance the scales. What I wasn't aware of was that Brenda was in the process of clearing the way for another agenda, one I wasn't even aware existed. Had I known that, I'd have suspected. "I thought he only yelled on the bus," Stephy said."It's tradition. He has to yell after every meet," Kelly explained.I looked at Miss Calloway standing next to me. "Is spanking allowed?" No, you'd enjoy it too much," Stephy said.Damn, these girls have gotten to know me quick.Tami smiled. "Sit!" she said loudly, and the eight girls all settled on the bench. "Listen!" The girls looked up at me attentively. Sometimes I think they behaved for her just to annoy me."I just wanted to say that you. " He nodded knowingly. Max has been my barman for many of years now. He knows my mood not by my face or my tales, but by what liquid I decide to put in me that day. He brought over a double immediately along with a whole quartered lime. He was already sure I'd be having a few more. I downed the shot and began sucking a lime quarter as he poured my beer. That's when she walked in. The first thing she did was survey the room. It didn't take long. Besides me and Max, there were only two other. Alice seemed to pick article topics the way I'd pick canapes at a cocktail party: whatever looks OK, without regard for content.Wilde and Beerbohm were linked by a chain of structuralism laced with dime-store psychoanalysis. The writing was better, though. I had to admit that.I returned to looking out of the window. For the first time in two days I thought about Lt. Billings. He'd said he be "on" today -- Sunday. Well, probably his day off yesterday wasn't as lack-luster as mine. I looked at my.