I admit to being slightly nervous, and I paused momentarily to steady my breathing, and to think of my mother. I wondered how the consultation was pro...gressing as it had quickly developed into an animated and noisy meeting, which could have been mistaken for a religious gathering because I heard my mother crying from her bedroom 'Oh My God. Oh My God, ' as I was leaving our suite.We had been staying at the hotel for two weeks while my mother dealt with a number of her regular patrons. I now. "I'll warm the toast up in the oven and put the sausage back in the skillet for a few minutes. Jeremy is right, we need to start conserving now. We might not get another paycheck for a long while."Jeremy sat back down at the table. "You sure you don't need to have a doctor look at that eye?"Connie pulled the table back to make room, and plopped down in his lap. "Just be glad this didn't happen at night instead of early morning, with a meeting already scheduled with the Matthews. Otherwise,. "What's your name, my little beauty?" one asked."I am Siharn, and that is my Master Jahiz," the woman said, "Get out of our house. You are no more than thieves who creep in in the night." Oh, but we are much more than thieves," came the riposte, "Much more interesting; we're rapists as well."The girl cowered as she understood the implications of what had just been said."Don't worry, we won't rape you yet. We have to shoot this old man first. He fired on us first, so it is only fair that we can. He gave me a small packet of coke and I slipped in and out of the ladies room to snort it. In no time, my body was tingling from the rush. Robert and I got out onto the floor and danced to Prince.My drinking was pacing the coke intake, but I didn't feel it. I was going wild with the music and the lights. I looked at Robert and he was feeling the same way. I could see the sweat glistening on his face as we moved with the rest of crowd. A couple of times I let myself look at his body straining.