It was a beautiful evening and Helen and I enjoyed the time to snuggle with Tim.By the time we returned to the estate, it was already getting late. An...d we were subdued from the activities of the day and evening. But, tonight I decided to be aggressive. Left to his own selection, Carlos might have moved to Mom, again. He was standing in the hallway outside the Great Room as I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his body. The others turned as I made my request of him, “Carlos … mmmm,. I walked over to the door, got dressed, and went out. Dirty fucking Mexicans. Just like I thought.I got something to drink, paid for it and told him the bathroom was filthy.He looked at me, smiled and said, “So?”I just shook my head and went out to the car. I opened the hood and saw the problem. My radiator hose was cracked. Now what was I going to do? Stuck in a one horse town and the only thing open was the convenience store. Just then the outside store lights went off. I hurried back. The parking lot was as big as my home church, Reedville Baptist. I was used to a much smaller congregation. This was at least twice the size and far more elaborate. Maria's whole family was there and I was grateful that I knew someone if only vaguely. If Maria was still mad at me when we got there, she covered it well and I was happy to play along.Almost all the families arriving were Hispanic or White. I'd never been to a church where half the congregation wasn't black. Race wasn't one of. From the gang. If the money was not forthcoming the citizens were beaten. If they still didn't pay a killing would be a very visible warning to the survivors.For some unknown reason those in the protection racket never approached those in the big house. That is until the Mercer brothers decided that they wanted to move out of the hotel and into that house. The problem was that Shaylee, Maeve and the French party, occupied that particular house.By this time the Mercers were so confident, that is.