For her part, Margo has a rather mischievous sense ofhumor, and I have long known she gets really turned on by little jokesthat cause me embarrassment.... She's also an incurable flirt. On theother hand, neither of us wants to do anything that would jeopardizeour reputation or jobs, so we've worked out The Game.The Game works -- or worked -- like this: We'd schedule a long weekendout of town, picking large, touristy cities when we could, but nothingtoo crowded. We'd fly into town, check into a. “It’s okay.”“Are you though?” Karla asked him, looking serious now.“I guess so.” Jason shrugged.“Things didn’t go well then?” She probed gently.“No, they did.” he said slowly. He didn’t really understand why he was telling her this. But then again, it wasn’t like he had anyone else he could talk to. Emma would normally be his first port of call if he had to talk something out, and he obviously couldn’t talk to her about this. And his mother was ... not a good option. It was unlooked for, but it. This processing was quite technological in nature and very impressive, even if it was irritating to undergo it under such a circumstances. First, they took daguerreotypes of our features standing before a clear white placard, so that they could see our faces clearly. That alone was not unique, as I had seen similar photographs placed up around Tarant for criminals of various stripes. But the next step was most ingenious: They dipped our thumbs in black ink, then had us set those thumbs to white. I sank back into the sofa listening to George Jones playing. I had just started to doze off when I heard noises come from the kitchen. I grabbed my beer and finished it.Robert and all three of his sons came in from the kitchen. All had a beer and a glass of something. Robert handed a glass to me. I took a sip and choked. It was moonshine. They all laughed a little and sat down around me. I was never really nervous with any of them; it was like I belonged there. Their hands wandered up and down.