I heard the rustle of wrapping paper as gifts are wrappedup with tape; presents that no doubt the real Amber would love and wantand be very happy and ...hankful to get, but that would surely be far toogirly for me to enjoy. The film was no fun and the chain held firm andwould not come lose or break.I tracked enough of the movie to talk aboutas I'm sure I'll be expected to do. The movie ends, and I sat therehelplessly, a damsel in distress, trapped as the giggling and planningfrom "mum" and "Dad". All the people that continued to be so agreeable around him, doing what he said...He had to test this, but now he was alone! He stepped out of his house, looking around. The neighbor kids were in the playground of the cul-de-sac he lived on, so he headed over there.The little kids there eyed him warily, as normally Jake just ignored them. He went up to one of them, a little boy of about seven. The boy looked up at him.Jake considered before speaking, "Hey, you should, uh, slide down that slide. Why don’t you girls kick the idea around, for you know what materials are available, and what craft techniques you could use to manufacture the masks?”“Me? You want me to be responsible for the masks?”“Of course. You girls have talents that most men would not deign to learn. You are used to making things for family use, so why not masks? Just make sure that the expression looks ferocious, frightening, eh?”Numa looked at her husband’s face, seeing the belief in her. She pulled herself up. I’d had a conversation with the condo manager and he was willing to work with me so I wrote a check for a little over half of my rent, which left me enough to survive with a reasonable cushion. I invited Desire’ to dinner at Danner’s and insisted on paying over her objections. ‘I’m not in bad shape right now,’ I said, ‘but I maxed out my credit card to get the clothes I needed and I only bought three outfits.’ ‘Didn’t you say you were having car trouble?’ she asked. ‘I don’t want to think.