How 'bout you fellas give me fifty dollars and this lot and I'll give you any two of those horses in the corral with all o' the needed tack?" How come... you got such a big place and all of that stock here in this out of the way place?" asked Shaylee equally as suspicious as the fat man."Hahahahahaha! Out o' the way it may be for now, but the Army just built a new fort twenty miles north o' here and the railroad is coming soon. They all need horses and I mean to be ready. In fact most o' that. Will shook his head and asked Kristen. "Where did you get that tic?" What tic?" Kristen asked."You did it when you giggled," Will explained. "You never did that before." Huh?" Kristen asked, totally bewildered.It finally dawned on me. "Kristen, I told you how you scrunch your nose when you giggle." I do not!" Kristen said, giggling, and most definitely scrunching her nose.After a burst of laughter from everybody, Kristen finally gave in. "All right. I do, but only when Jim's around. He... um.... She was still recalling the image of the man standing there, even as the school bus wound its way north on Dubrack street. Alighting at her stop near Knightsbridge Drive she half expected to see him waiting for her and was almost disappointed when she reached her home in Trailwood Place a few minutes later. You seem very distracted Mimi? her mother said after she had ambled inside and walked around the kitchen a couple of times, Is everything Ok at school? No, Im fine mom, the girl replied.. ?What do you want?? Mark uttered unfriendly ?Mr. Cockwidth? Can I speak to Susan?? ?Who are you? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?? Mark Cockwidth eyed the girl suspiciously. She looked raggedly, uncombed, desperate. ?Please, I have to speak to Susan. I?m Mary. Mary Fisher. Please. Me and Susan had been friends. Don?t you remember me?? The girl looked at him with pleading eyes. Yes, he remembered her now. She had lived only some streets away, and she and Susan had played quite.