I was going to grab her, but Constance stopped and grabbed me. She was looking out over the dirt covered clearing where the few children in the villag...e were playing with a soccer ball. “Oh. I guess I could be sold since I’m considered property.”“I dub thee Number Six,” I said.“Does that mean I get to be Number Two?” Ashley asked cheerfully. “I get to ask Constance all sorts of nonsense questions.”“What?” Constance asked.“More of the strange and somehow delightful shows and stories that Mark. She leaned forward beside his head and stroked the side of his cheek with the back of one hand. "Penny for them?"Without opening his eyes he laughed gently, softly, almost inaudibly in the noise of the drumming rain, and said, "Not a lot, really; the old days, I suppose. The madness of youth."She giggled a little. "Do you remember, all that time ago, dancing in the storm, in the rain? It was like a pagan ritual, made me feel so alive."Abruptly she stood up, half-stooping under the rain-drummed. " "Sensei looks happier than I've seen him in a year at least." "Something he ate agreed with him." She laughs, "He sure picked a good one this time, Randi." "Thanks, Debbi. Um, why did he call you Trixie, earlier." "Because I called him Karl. Trixie was my nickname when I worked at Hooters. Not many people know that. I'm glad that Dew Drop stuck." "What do you do now?" "Teach middle school. You?" "Chemical Engineer." "No shit. A Chemical Engineer and a Ph D. Assistant Professor of. I couldn't understand it because I took regular baths and brushed my teeth two or three times a day.Our school had a dance once a month on a Friday night. Not a prom type dance, just a dance designed to help kids learn to socialize (and keep them off the streets on a Friday night). You could go to it stag and dance with the girls who came alone or you could take a date. Going stag marked you as "lame" and most guys did not want that tag hung on them so if they couldn't get a date they didn't.