Ben of years of late night dinners at Denny’s, road trips to places dictated by dice and maps, platonic back, foot and head massages, and cigarettes... while watching the people in the rain. And even before that the Ben of catching grasshoppers in crispy fields, constant detentions and picking the ants off of ants-on-a-log. Ben clears his throat and nudges my leg with his foot. ‘So does this feel like a ‘date’ yet to you?’ ‘Well, you haven’t told me all about your conquests in high school, tried. He had to admit that he was totally in the dark about what, exactly, she was doing but, it all seemed so important. As though she was really making a difference. Hours went by as he watched in awe at her ability to handle so many different things at once. He glanced up at the coming darkness. He had stayed too long, again. She had thought it would all be too much! But, she had managed handling the strain of firing people like a trooper. The dreams came less often after three weeks. She had been. Right away, I seen Pam so I went up to her and in a casual sort of way. I talked to her about 10 minutes. I eased it into the conversation and ask her where Bruce's motor home was. She then told me that she had heard from his home boy's that go to the bar, that he had told them that some bitch had got pregnant by him, so he moved, last Saturday morning. He said that he was too young to worry about k**s. And that was just her problem. Cause the bitch needed to have been on the pill. I said " But. " I'd read Dan's file with interest back when we'd employed these guys. He was high-dan rated in three martial arts, all of the "Beat Your Opponent To A Pulp" variety. He wasn't in the room now, which I was glad of because I wasn't confident enough to take him on yet."I'll play safe by starting with someone else, until I feel comfortable, but if it goes the way I expect then Dan won't give me any trouble."To his guys, Paul said, "Who wants to go first?"One of them asked Dad, "A week in LA,.