?So, what are the ground rules, gentlemen?? ?There are four, Ben.? Olaf took up the dialogue. ?First. Ten extreme, targeted, challenges to be overcome... All must be passed. Second, all the challenges must be passed in one 36 hour stretch that will be the show. Third, you will have three weeks to train and prepare the boy.? ?Three weeks?? I interjected. ?Three weeks exactly until curtain-up.? ?We’ve always done five. I have the five week pace, Olaf.? ?I know, Ben. That’s why we’ve lopped two. My deputy in this task was David ben-Isaac, one of the emperor’s catamites who had assisted me in resisting the Usurpation of Nerva. The emperor had lent him to my service, both for intelligence and pleasure. This was a boon, as my wife had recently fallen pregnant and was no longer available to me. I gave the boy a vigorous fucking each night, he assisted me with my correspondence to the various frumentarii in the provinces during the day, and we went to the synagogue every Sabbath. The rabbis. He did notbother to shift out of the visual plane as there was no body around. He waslooking for another victim but he wanted a special someone but did not knowwho he was looking for. As he walked down the alley he heard "Hey, Buddyhave you got some spare change?" John was an old bum who was covered in garbage resting when he had seenTurok's boots. He asked for the change and saw the boots stop and turn toface him. He thought it was his lucky day, he was wrong. He pulled back thecardboard. But he kissed his girlfriend good bye, I let it go.As we were pulling away from the dorm his phone rang. It was Annie.She was snowed in and was not going to get out of the city until tomorrow at the latest. She told us to have a good evening with out her and she would fly in tomorrow. Zakk and I grabbed some take out sushi and headed for my loft in the downtown area. As we ate we made small talk and tried to find a way to break the ice. I asked him if he wanted a beer but asked for wine.