The college application was excellent, and you passed all the necessary tests, it seemed, better than other classmates. The more surprising was the fa...ct your statement was in question and you were asked to come to the dean’s office to clarify your compliance with the selection criteria.You came into the reception room in a classic style with a high ceiling. Some girl was waiting there, apparently also the first-year student. You did not know how to behave with her and just sat on a bench next. "Stupid man! Don't you see how much she loves you? That evening, after the Christmas party, she came up to my study and told me about you. She was positively gushing about how nice you were and how much she wanted to see you again."She was? But why hadn't she called earlier? Ruth saw the question, but she tightened her lips."Don't ask me why she waited so long to call. That's something she'll have to tell you when she's ready. Let's just say that she had to arrange things first."I let it be,. I looked over at Kelly, who had found me at East Matucket. “Was I a goon before?”“You were worse.”I snorted and we kept busting each other’s chops until the game started. The junior varsity wasn’t quite as dominating as the varsity was, but the JV Pioneers decided to behave like their big brothers and trash the Warriors. It was interesting on a different level, too. The rest of the goons and I were grouped together, and we were looking at our replacements in a year or two. One JV Pioneer of. " You ended up in Hong Kong and stumbled across a little old lady selling Jade Boxes, right?" That was a present for a friend's fifteenth wedding anniversary. He and I picked it together." You opened it?" Jade asked the obvious question."Ah ha. Why?" Jeez Cassie, do we have to draw you a diagram here?" Stuart groaned."The box did this to me?" the woman asked. "That pissy little piece of Jade?" Well technically, the box was only the instrument; the tool, if you will. Put it this way, if you.