It was the longest speech I had ever heard one of them speak. I really had not understood what was going to happen. I had attended several different f...uneral rites in the past. This was the first time that I had ever took part in a rite, that took part inside of me!If I understood this correctly, I now had Pao's spirit (or essence) inside of me. I was housing the spirit of a being who was vastly old, when Christopher Columbus was a young man!(You should be proud. I am VERY proud that I was asked. .I'lltake it." We got a deal then. And, by the way, Shamus pays me $7.50 a night, sothat'll be $8.50 from you." She smiled. "A dollar more a night _was_your offer."* * * * *'Wish I could practice some card tricks,' Bridget thought as sheshuffled the deck. 'Just to do something different with my time.' Shesighed, feeling out of sorts. 'Yeah, girl,' she told herself, 'and ifany of your regular players see you doing them, they might get towondering if you're doing sleights like that _during_. For one thing boys and girls could no longer kiss in the halls, they weren’t really supposed to in the first place but most teachers ignored it. Now however whenever a teacher saw it happening they put a stop to it immediately. Each of the students who were caught kissing were given a stern warning, for the first two weeks anyway. After that they were assured, the students would be more severely punished. What exactly the punishment would be was never spelled out though. Even tardiness would. Kaylee, I love you so much. I just wanted this Christmas to be sospecial because it is your first. You don't have to go and see the Santaat the mall if you don't want to."I shrugged. "Well, I could for Sophia."I added, "Oh and I was hoping that Ava could see it too. You know thecarrots and the reindeer prints. On Christmas Day."Kathryn smiled. "I would have to talk to Ava's mother about it, but Idon't see why not, sweetie. Why do you want her to come over?"I replied, "Some asshole at school.