She used to let us play in her sandbox and on the swing set her parents had in their back yard. We used to play hide n' seek, and tag, cops n' robbers..., and all that. It was fun. And she always invited us to her birthday parties, even if we didn't have a present for her.Well, all that ended when we hit junior high school. Suddenly, my brother was too good for her. She hit puberty and grew up kind of tall and skinny and awkward, and he became this super hot shit jock douchebag, all popular at. " Fine. There being no further business before this court, I declareit..." he pounded his gavel twice. "...adjourned." The judge rose, asdid everyone else. He nodded to the crowd and left through a door justto the left of his bench.***"What the fuck was that all about," Emil Baldini asked his lawyer. Theywere alone in a small room reserved for lawyers and their clients thatwas down the hall from Criminal Court. Baldini was a short, wiry manwith slicked back hair. "Why's he wanna with meet. There really wasn’t much to see, and it wasn’t like home where I had a multitude of channels to choose from. I settled on a music channel and selected jazz. I must’ve have fallen asleep when I was startled by your voice, “A couple of more minutes, hun. Promise.” I began to hear some music coming from the bathroom. I couldn’t quite make it out thru the door, then lights went off in the bathroom, and the door was opened slightly. I flipped the TV sound off.Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” was. Why don't you start breakfast and I'll load the car?" Eddie nodded and went outside to walk to the restaurant.I had left the car close the lobby entrance. I went out with one case and opened the trunk. I loaded all four pieces of luggage into the trunk and closed it. It was so quiet that it was eerie. I realized that my mind was trying to trick my ears into hearing sounds. I walked toward the restaurant.Suddenly, I realized that I was actually hearing a new sound. This one wasn't my.