Jane came back out of the bus station, shaking her head.  As she
got in the car, she remarked to Charlie, "They said they haven't seen
her, but I left a copy of a picture, so they'll call if they see her
buying a ticket."
	"Did you tell them she was a runaway?" Charlie asked.
	Jane sighed.  "There was nothing else I could tell them."
	"What if he's gone back to looking like a guy?"
	Jane shook her head, slowly, as if she was exhausted.	"I said her
name was Kelly, and the picture is close enough that it could go either
way too."
	There was a long pause in which Charlie tried to think of something
else to do.  He was pulled out of his musings by a strange sound coming
from Jane, and when he turned to look he was horrified to see she was
weeping almost silently into her hands.  "Jane?" he asked, seriously
frightened to see her suddenly reduced to tears.
	She sniffled and looked up at him.  Somehow, actually seeing tears
on her cheeks was even worse.  "I... I've never had someone try to run
away like this," she explained, her voice husky.  "I'm afraid for him...
what if something happens to him?"

	Tucker was jammed into a car with four other girls, Trish and her
friends, as they went to the local rollerblade pusher to get a set of
skates for one girl named Tracy.  Tracy and Pauline spoke ASL too, so
the conversation was flickering back and forth in ASL and English at the
same time to mad laughter as they poked fun at each other's makeup and
hair.  Tucker, naturally, got the most comments, but as he'd been living
in a town with more than twenty thousand people, as opposed to the rest
of them, he figured he was in the right no matter what they said.
	And they'd thought his tank top was cool.
	When they pulled into the shop, it turned out to be Oshman's, in
the same damned mall that the hair salon was in.	*Oh, fuck,* he
thought.	*Well, all I can do is hope they stopped looking.*
	"So what are you doing in town?" Jojo asked Tucker.
	"Oh, well, visiting..."
	<Who?> Trish wanted to know.
	"Um, sort of a friend of the family..."  Tucker really hoped they
would leave this topic of conversation.  He was having a feeling,
though...
	Tracy snorted and glared at Tucker over the front seat.  "You
wouldn't be one of those girls from Jane Thompson's little 'charm
school,' would you?"
	"What?"  *Oh, shiiiiit-*
	Pauline snapped, "With THAT hair?" and the girls in the car broke
up.	So did Tucker, thinking of oh-so-perfect Charlene.
	"Well, yeah, actually," he finally admitted when he caught his
breath.
	<What did you do, break loose?> Trish asked.
	"Yeah, pretty much," Tucker replied.  "We had a small difference of
opinion on what my hair was going to be colored, and I decided I'd had
enough for a while."
	"I'm surprised she let you get that, whatEVER it is-" Tracy said
before she started everyone laughing again.
	Tucker told them, "Well, she didn't exactly SEE it when I left, I
sort of figured-"  That set them all off.
	"I think you 'figured' right," Pauline remarked.  "I dunno what
it's like there, but they are all the most STUCK-up bitches I have ever
seen!"
	"I swear!" confirmed Jojo.  "It's like they have to prove they have
money so they dress like they're going to a party all the time, and they
like NEVER talk to the rest of us, even if we TRY to be nice-"
	"That's 'cause you all look funny," Tucker lied, and they laughed
for a while at that, too.
	<At least _I_ could figure out what color hair I wanted!> Trish
snapped back.
	Tracy changed the subject back with, "So, I mean, what's it LIKE, I
mean, going to charm school?"
	Tucker sighed.  "It's like, it's... it's like being in front of
like all your relatives, the ones your parents want to impress, and them
correcting you all the time."
	<Like being five years old again,> Trish confirmed.  Tucker had a
heart twitch as he feared for a moment that she knew about the weirder
stuff Jane had done.
	"Uh, yeah, sort of.  Manners and how to wear makeup and clothes and
everything like that."
	"Bleah," said Jojo, and Pauline replied, "That's because you're a
pig, Jojo," and they were off again.

	Caroline looked up as Jane came back in, hopeful for just an
instant, but the slump in Jane's shoulders, plus the way that Charlene
was helping her, told her that Valerie hadn't been found.

	"These are so COOL!" squealed Tracy as she overbalanced on the
skates and almost fell down.	Tucker giggled and bent down to finish
strapping on the other pair of demo skates.	This Oshman's had a demo
area for skates, with a rubber floor and pads and everything.  Tucker
was seriously debating getting a pair.

	"We can't declare him missing yet," Jane said wearily, "he hasn't
been missing long enough.  Not for the police, anyway."
	Sandy's gut wrenched.  She'd been good at pushing Jane's boys just
as far as they could handle, but this one, seemingly one of the easier
ones, had run off when her back was turned, and she had a sick feeling
they would never see him again.

	"Well, why not?" Jojo demanded as they abandoned Oshman's for the
rest of the mall.
	"'Cause!  I'm not sure I'd get to keep 'em," Tucker said sadly.
"And I don't want to spend the money on them and have Jane take them
away."
	<Are you going back?> Trish asked.
	Tucker stared at her for a moment.  *When did I decide to go back?*
he wondered.  As he stopped walking, caught in his own thoughts, the
other girls stopped and formed a circle around him.
	*I mean, this shit is going waaaaay too far,* he thought.  *But, I
dunno... it's only been a couple of days, and it's too soon to give up
yet.  And I wouldn't get that Libretto, and it would really be a bitch
to get everything back from her house.	And I told Dad I'd bring the
laptop back, too.  Damn.  I gotta go back,* he decided.
	"I guess so," he said slowly, looking at the girls' faces.  They
all looked seriously back at him.
	"But not yet," he added with a grin, and the girls cheered.

	Charlie had volunteered to try and find something in the mall that
they could eat, while they planned what to do to try and find Valerie at
this point.  She sighed, still nervous at being alone out in public-
	Come to think of it, this was the first time he'd EVER been alone
in public as Charlene.  *Oh, shit,* he thought as the realization dawned
on him.
	Suddenly, the people around him had just gotten a lot more
dangerous.  He directed his gaze at the floor, attempting to attract
less attention, and paid great attention to his walking, which suddenly
seemed like the hardest thing in the world to do.

	Tucker's mouth chattered on while his eyes tracked Charlene as she
walked past, looking like she was severely nervous about something.
When he wasn't tracking her, he was scanning for Jane or any of the
salon folks, but none of them seemed to be around.

	Jojo wondered about this new girl.  For one of Jane's charm school
girls, she was waaaaay too casual and loose.  Every one of the one's
she'd seen, all three of them, had acted like they were being watched
and graded all the time.  Which of course was possible, given what
Valerie had said.  But there was something else there, some kind of
reserve that they never let down, even in the bathroom or wherever, even
if they were alone.
	Now, this Valerie, on the other hand... while she could be kind of
irritating, and pushy, and sort of snotty, it was a different KIND of
snotty, like she knew what she was doing and she was sort of laughing at
what she was doing at the same time.
	That was it! she realized.  Those other ones never really laughed
or smiled, not for real.  Valerie did.
	Jojo nodded to herself in satisfaction, just as Valerie was coming
out of the changing room.  "So?  Cool?" she asked.
	Jojo looked at the pleated miniskirt Valerie was trying on.  "Yeah,
looks good," she replied, vocalizing her observations.  "Makes your hips
look bigger."
	"Oh, great," Valerie complained, "just what I need."
	"Oh, like you have a problem," Tracy shot back as she came out of
the stall holding the shorts she'd found.  "Too small," she answered the
unspoken question.
	"So?  What size are you?" Valerie asked.
	"I THOUGHT I was a six," Tracy said disgustedly.
	"A SIX?" Valerie said incredulously.  "_I_ have to get NINE's!
What are YOU complaining about!"

	"Come on," complained Pauline, "I gotta get there by eleven
thirty!"
	"Get where?" Tucker asked.
	Pauline snorted.  "I've got an appointment to get my hair colored
at Marisha in," she looked at her watch, "Oh GOD!  Come ON!"
	Tucker looked at his watch as Trish grabbed his other arm and
pulled him along.  11:25.  *Uh oh,* he thought.  "Where is this place,
'cause you're gonna be late-"
	"It's in the mall," Tracy answered as she yanked her hand out of
Pauline's.
	"Oh, no!" Tucker said, stopping, or trying to.  Trish yanked, and
he stumbled another few feet in the direction of the salon.  "That's
where I was this morning!"
	"Oh, come on!  They won't recognize you!" Tracy said.
	<Not from what you looked like when I met you,> Trish confirmed.
	Jojo asked, "You think we could pull it off?" with a gleam in her
eye and an all-too-familiar grin on her face.
	Tucker sighed.  *I DO look different,* he thought.  "Mmaybe," he
said, but the grins of the other girls made him smile too.
	"Come on!" urged Pauline.  "Let's see if they know it's you!"
	With that, Tucker surrendered, and they ran the rest of the way,
ignoring the taunts of some guys they passed.  <Jerks,> Trish said.
	"No, back home we call those kind of guys 'buttholes,'" Tucker
corrected, causing a final fit of giggling as they opened the door that
Tucker had already run through once this morning.
	*Of course, last time I was here, I had one girl trying to kill me,
and now I have four trying to hide me.	Go figure,* he thought, shaking
his head.
	They seated themselves in the waiting area, and Trish and Pauline
were telling volumes about the guys they had passed, when Sandy came out
and called to Pauline.

	Sandy didn't spare more than a glance at the girls that Pauline had
come in with, except to note the tank top that one was wearing.	While
she had the overdone makeup, short skirt, and other signs of young
male-baiting, the shirt said "GRRLZ R KEWL," which was a little
surprising.  It was the sort of thing Sandy herself would have worn.

	Tucker kept a silly-assed grin on his face as his mind went slack-
jawed and gibbered.  *She... she MISSED me,* he thought, astonished.
*And she looked right AT me!*
	"See?" hissed Tracy, hands flickering in ASL at the same time, "I
told you it'd work!"
	Trish started laughing hysterically, banging her leg.	Since girls
couldn't do anything independently, the others started laughing too,
which pulled Tucker into it as well.
	Besides, Trish looked so FUNNY when she was laughing...

	Jane sat in Caroline's office, trying to cudgel her brain into
thinking of one more place to call, one more place that Eugene might
have gone...

	"Wait, wait wait wait," Tucker hissed at the girls.  "Watch this."
He'd gotten bored with waiting, since it was pretty obvious that he
wasn't going to get noticed, at least not as long as he kept the Yankees
cap over his hair.
	He got up casually, ignoring the giggles that the girls were
unsuccessfully trying to repress, and sauntered slowly back to the
station where Sandy was clipping Pauline's hair.
	When Pauline saw him, she started coughing, or laughing and faking
a cough to cover it up, and Sandy had to stop.  Tucker just stood there
until Pauline had herself under control and Sandy had started cutting
her hair again.
	*Wait for it, wait for it...* he thought to himself, holding until
the scissors were away from Pauline's hair.
	When they were, finally, as Sandy rotated the chair Pauline was in,
Tucker casually but loudly remarked, "So, you gonna dye this one blonde
too?" as he flipped the baseball cap off.

	Sandy was concentrating so hard on Pauline's hair that she didn't
hear the question clearly.  "Excuse me?" she said as she turned around.
	Valerie was standing there calmly, grinning, wearing a tank top
that said "GRRLZ R KEWL" and holding a Yankees cap.
	She didn't even notice the fit of laughter from the waiting area.

	Despite his casual-looking pose, Tucker was actually poised like a
runner on the starting block, so when Sandy dropped the scissors and
merely started to drift in his direction, he launched in the direction
of the front door.
	The girls started screaming "GO!  GO!  GO!" as he pounded for the
door, sensing Sandy just a few steps behind him.	Tracy yanked the door
open for him, and he dashed through, grateful he wouldn't have to slow
down to open it, and immediately stressed his ankles by planting them in
the ground and zipping right, slamming himself against the wall.  His
bruises hurt, a lot.
	On the other hand, Sandy rushed past, screaming something which
Tucker didn't wait around to hear.  He scrabbled around the corner and
pushed the door shut before Sandy could reverse.	The girls were
clapping and cheering, the rest of the customers were staring like the
kids had gone mad, and Jane was striding towards him like she was going
to eviscerate him on the spot.  *Uh oh,* he thought.
	Behind him, Sandy could be heard outside, pounding on the door and
cursing.
	"Whatta revoltin' development," he quoted as Jane yanked him up off
the floor.

	<I told you, I can't hear what the other ones are saying to
Valerie!> Tracy signed angrily.
	Trish huffed, the sound off-key, and asked, <Well what is VV
saying?>
	Tracy listened attentively to the screeching from the back room
Jane had dragged Valerie to.	Her mouth slowly dropped open.
	Trish impatiently tapped her on the shoulder, and she began
signing, <She's screaming that having her hair done like that, without
her permission, is the same thing as being raped!>
	<WHAT?!> Trish signed back, incredulous.
	<That's what she said, she- wait, now she's saying that if Jane
tries that again, she'll make sure that Jane is...>
	<Jane is what?>
	<They all got quiet again,> Tracy signed.  <Damn.>
	<Fuck all of them,> Trish commented, her hands sweeping like a
conductor.  <VV is cool!  She's right!>

	Charlie stared at the rapid snaps of the argument between Valerie,
on the one hand, and the three adults on the other.  Unlike the other
three, Valerie was not being especially quiet except on the parts
dealing with Jane dressing her in girl's clothes.  In fact, she was
screaming at the top of her lungs a large part of the time, broadcasting
the details to everyone in the shop, and maybe the people outside, too.
She had that kind of voice.
	And she was holding her ground, at least.
	Charlie had to admit, if she'd done this well, coming up with a
complete change of clothes this quick - girl's clothes, too, he'd noted
- that she was probably right when she said she could get out anytime
she wanted to.  But he had no idea what she'd meant when she referred to
Jane's being "completely vulnerable" in this "whole thing," whichever
thing she was talking about.
	Valerie had just gotten interrupted by an astonished Caro, who was
saying in a shocked tone of voice, "You can't DO that!" when there was a
firm knock on the door.
	Conversation stopped as the door opened and four faces appeared.
	"Listen," said the one that had been getting her hair cut.  "She's
right, you know.  It's just like rape, to go doing that-"  One girl's
hands flickered angrily, and the other girls as well as Valerie watched
intently.  "You can't go doing that to people, it's WRONG," the first
one said firmly.
	"It's her body," said another one of the four, hands fluttering
too.  Charlie got a shock when he realized that what they were doing was
speaking in sign language at the same time as they were speaking, like
those programs on TV that had simultaneous translations.  "She should be
able to decide if she WANTS her hair colored or NOT."
	The one girl who had started 'talking' or whatever they called it,
flashed some more, and the first girl grinned nastily as she repeated,
"And her father is a reporter for the TV station."

	Tucker grinned at that, and was about to turn and launch a final
assault on Jane, who he could tell was reeling from the unexpected
flank attack, when there was a gasp from the other side of the room.
	Everyone turned and looked as Charlene's eyes rolled up in the back
of her head and she collapsed on the floor.

	Charlene's faint had pretty much calmed things down on all sides,
but Valerie still had this sort of look that said she wasn't going to be
pushed any further, Pauline had noted.
	Trish held her hand up, and Valerie high-fived it.

	Jane turned around at the hand on her elbow.  "Look, Jane," said
Valerie in a much calmer tone of voice than she'd been using earlier,
"we both have something to lose here, and I guess we have something to
gain, too.  If you lay off the sick stuff, I'll put up with the clothes
and stuff, but I'm not gonna let you mess around with my body.  Deal?"

	On the one hand, Tucker found it almost unbelievable that he was
saying stuff like this.
	On the other hand, he really REALLY wanted that Libretto in his hot
little hands.	And he figured that Jane was either going to agree, or
say no right here.	In which case, he still had enough money for a bus
ticket home.  And a few new friends who would probably help him out long
enough for him to get out of town.  Not to mention retrieval of a
certain laptop, and certain other things he was loathe to replace.
     On the gripping hand, he had a vague idea of what he was condemning
himself to, which was why his arms were wrapped around him like he was
freezing.  Or holding his intestines in.

	Trish was always frustrated when she couldn't understand what was
going on, which happened when a lot of people were all talking at the
same time.  Like now.
	Finally, she'd had enough and grabbed Tracy by the arm.  <WHAT IS
GOING ON!?> she signed, the motions larger and more vehement than usual
because she was so irritated.
	Tracy sighed, and started signing, <Valerie is going back with
Jane, but she got Jane to agree to letting her out of the house once in
a while, and to ease up on the other one too.>
	<Way cool!> Trish signed back, and they high-fived each other.  <So
what now?>
	Tracy laughed, and signed, badly because she was laughing so hard,
<So now Valerie wants a pair of skates!>

	Jane pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.  "And what size are
you miss?" asked the sales clerk of Valerie.
	"Eight," came the too-quick reply.  That brought Jane's head up.
They linked eyes for a moment, then Valerie flipped her foot at Jane-
no, flipped her _shoe_.	The one she'd bought while she was "out"
earlier.
	With that solved, the headache came back.  There had been the fight
between Charlene and Valerie, and then Valerie disappearing for several
horrifying hours, and then the argument-
	*You have to admit, Jane,* she thought to herself, *the child knew
what she was doing.*  Which was uncanny.  Every single one of her boys
had been much too petrified at their own situation to even think about
the risks Jane herself was taking until they were almost done.  At
least, until the point at which their 'older' sister left.  Valerie had
obviously figured it out in three days-
	*Three DAYS,* she sighed.  *Unbelievable.*  Maybe Robert had been
right.  Certainly, this one was the most unusual case she'd ever taken
on, bar none.	She'd hardly ever let one of her boys out of her sight,
and this one had not only escaped her - it still hurt, to realize just
what kind of trouble Valerie could have gotten into without being aware
of it - but made some local friends.  And as a young girl, too.
	The other thing that worried Jane was the fact that somehow, she
had either convinced the girls to loan her enough money to buy
everything for her - *Not hardly,* she disagreed, as she examined the
obviously full canvas satchel Valerie had been toting around since her
return - or had come up with the money on her own.
	Which should have been impossible.  Jane would have said it WAS
impossible, were it not for the evidence staring her in the face.
	And, of course, there was the last problem, the deepest.  Valerie
had totally eluded every attempt they had made to find her.  Jane would
never admit to it, at least not where Valerie even MIGHT hear it, but if
she had not returned of her own volition, she would have completely
escaped.	And that was what worried Jane most.  If Valerie could do it,
so could someone else... and while Valerie had, for whatever mysterious
reasons of her own, returned, Jane couldn't count on the next one being
as generous.  *Or as lucky,* she shuddered, remembering involuntarily
some of the scenarios that had played out through her mind.

	Tucker got to his feet, glad that he was wearing a pair of shorts
under the miniskirt he was wearing.
	He wobbled on the skates, but it was similar enough to ice skating
that he started adapting almost immediately.  *I think the only problem
is going to be the brakes on the heel.*  The guy had said that there
were kits to put toe brakes on 'blades, but that Valerie should try them
out with the heel brake first.  Jojo and Trish had agreed, so he
reluctantly assented.
	*So...*  The girls were grinning at him and giving him thumbsup,
except for Charlene, who still looked like she was on the verge of a
faint.  *So, pushhhhhh...*  It was a lot like ice skating.

	"You want to try it?" one of the girls asked Charlie.
	"Me?" he yelped in surprise.
	"Well, yeah... I mean, if you want to."  There was a subtle message
in her words that he was NOT catching.
	"Come on, Charlene, give it a whack!" urged Valerie.  "Let your
hair down, have some fun, live a little..."  She stumbled, arms
flailing, but just barely managed to recover her balance.  "Look like a
fool like the rest of us!"
	"ExCUSE me?" intoned Tracy, in a voice so overblown that Charlie
almost laughed.
	"Okay," Valerie admitted, "like ME.  Come on!"  The enthusiastic
wave of her arm almost sent her over again.
	"Why don't you?" Jane suggested softly.
	He turned to gape at her.  "What?"
	Valerie enthused, "Come on!" as she wobbled back and forth.
	Jane said softly, "It would do you some good to try something new
like this..."  The slight smile on her lips was a pale ghost of the
usual sardonic grin she wore when she was pushing him into something
else horrible, but it was still enough to give him a chill.
	"What if I fall down?" he asked, desperate for an excuse, though it
seemed like a valid point to him.	He pointed at the rather tight long
skirt and the long sleeved blouse he'd worn that morning.
	<That's why you wear pads,> sneered Trisha, the deaf girl.  She
didn't actually say anything herself - Tracy translated - but
astonishingly, you could tell she was sneering.
	Valerie added, "AND a helmet!"
	"Helmets are for wusses," Jojo shot back.
	Valerie stopped her forward motion by the expedient of grabbing on
to a display rack.	"No, honnneeeey," she drawled, "helmets are for
people who don't need a brain transplant."

	They'd managed to talk Charlene into trying it, and it was funny to
see the look of panic on her face as the guy clicked her into the boots
and she realized that she was going to do it.
	"Come on," said Tucker gently, "now all you gotta do is stand up."
He'd already started adapting to the skates, and so he slid over to
Charlene, managing to remember the heel brakes.
	"Get lost," sneered Jojo as she pushed past Tucker to hold
Charlene's arms.  "Come on, we won't let that nasty old Valerie drop
you.  Commmmmmmme on," she cajoled, and pulled on one arm.  With Trish
pulling on the other, it was only a matter of time before Charlene was
up on her feet, looking like she was about to scream at any second.
	"See?  Easy," said Jojo as she walked backwards, leading Charlene
around in a circle.  Charlene's feet twitched spastically, like
everyone's did the first time they tried skates.
	Tucker, on the other hand, tried a reverse, which ended with him on
the rubber floor saying "Duh?"

	The confused look on Valerie's face as she sat on the floor, legs
akimbo, was too much for Jane, and she started to laugh.  Really, truly,
laugh, the kind of belly-shaker that leaves you hurting afterwards but
feels so good.  It had been a long time since she'd had one of those.

	<Stupid,> smiled Trish.	<I think you need more practice first.>
	<No kidding,> Tucker signed back.	<This is my first time on
these.>
	<Really?>
	<Yeah,> Tucker confirmed, <but I used to ice skate.  I thought that
would help.>
	<Some, but not that much.  For one thing, ice is a lot flatter than
anything you'll find on the streets,> she warned.
	<Great,> Tucker groaned, and Trish laughed, mixing weirdly with
Jane, who was still laughing her ass off too.  Tucker sighed, thinking,
*Glad everyone is so amused,* and clambered to his feet for another try.

	Charlene had gained some confidence on the skates, with Tracy and
Jojo helping, and she'd pestered Jane until she agreed to purchase
another pair.	The salesclerk looked smug when he thought no one was
watching him, which both amused and annoyed Jane.  *I'll bet you feel
good about this, making over four hundred dollars and getting to fondle
some young girls too.*  Valerie and Charlene both had bounced into the
man, and while his hands hadn't touched them, Jane had a sneaking
suspicion that he had somehow prolonged the contacts as long as he
could.
	In another confirmation of Valerie's strange comfort in skirts,
she'd laughed and pushed backwards when she ran into the clerk.
Charlene had frozen, and Jane had seen the hair go up on her arms, but
Jojo had pulled her loose before Jane could get up.  Jane hadn't been
able to overhear what Jojo whispered into Charlene's ear, but whatever
it was, it had reassured the boy somewhat.
	Unfortunately, Jane's stomach was rumbling, and she was beginning
to notice the increased irritability that said it was definitely time to
eat something.

	Tucker had been collecting phone numbers from the girls before they
left, promising to call them maybe this weekend, because the number of
"cool girls" in town was so limited.  Tucker took that to mean either
skaters or people that could deal with the deaf, since it was pretty
clear that the other girls had sort of clustered around Trish.  Tucker
remembered being ostracized from first grade, although he'd wondered if
things got better as you got older.  *Guess not.*
	In any case, they were pretty desperate, even begging _Jane_ to let
Valerie come out and 'do something fun.'  Tucker was glad that most of
the girls were younger than him; that meant there was a faint chance
that 'something fun' wouldn't involve boys.  Almost nonexistant, but it
was there.
	And besides, he had a hunch he could talk them into skating.
*Maybe at Jane's place,* he thought as he re-packed the skates in the
box, kneeling on the floor.  *She's got that huge concrete driveway, and
it's not like there's a whole lot of traffic on it.*  Tucker liked the
idea of doing some radical urban skating, but not quite yet.  Not until
he got a helluva lot better at it.
	When he got the skates packed in the box along with the pads, he
stood up, strapping the helmet to his new satchel.  "So, where're we
going for lunch?"

	Jane thought about it for a moment, then realized that even if
Valerie was immune to her training methods, Charlene was not.  And she
had not yet 'graduated' in Jane's eyes, though her solicitiousness today
had been an extremely positive sign.
	So a trip to a public restaurant would be perfect.

	Charlie was smiling at the cutest of the girls when the part of his
mind that was always paying attention to Jane rang his clue bell HARD.
"What?!" he gasped.
	Jane smiled, the wicked grin back in full force.	"I said, there's
a nice restaurant here in town, and I think I could get us reservations
there this afternoon, if we hurry."
	"I don't suppose it's Chinese, is it?" Valerie asked hopefully.
"'Cause I could really go for some good Chinese food."
	Jane kept her eyes locked on Charlie, who gulped as he realized
that whatever had happened this morning, and whatever Jane had shown of
her softer, more human side, she was still the same Jane as always.  And
she was letting him know that he was still under her thumb.
	Besides, the idea of eating in public as a girl petrified him.

	<What's with her?> Trish wanted to know.
	<I think she's scared of Jane, and eating in a restaurant is sort
of like a final exam or something.>  Tucker sighed as he realized what
it would mean for HIM.  <She's death on bad manners, and->
	<Oh no,> Trish grinned.
	"What?" Jojo complained, and Tracy leaned over and began
translating for her.  When she was finished, both of them were grinning
too.
	<Hey!  _I_ gotta go through it too!> Tucker complained.
	"You'll do good," Tracy signed and said at the same time.  Trish
added, <As long as you don't actually EAT anything...>

	Jane deliberately interrupted the conversation with, "Valerie,
dear, you WILL need to change first.  The restaurant I have in mind has
a dress code, and that does NOT qualify."
	"What's wrong with it?" Valerie complained, looking down at the
miniskirt and the tank top.  The local girls started to giggle.

	Tucker sighed as he entered the salon for the third time that day.
Jane had left the dress here, in the office, and she insisted that
Valerie change her makeup too.  *Life just sucks,* Tucker thought
cheerfully as he waved to Sandy, who looked about like his sister did
when it was time for Tucker to go sleep over at Mike's for his own
safety.  *Hope that bitch doesn't have a key to the house.*
	He waved to Pauline, too, who looked like she was almost done with
her color job. *Not that I can tell a difference,* he thought.  *Must've
have been a biweekly PM or something.*
	Jane led Tucker to the office where the dress was hanging on a
hanger, looking somehow sad at being abandoned.
	*Too much English class,* Tucker thought sadly as he shook his
head.

	Jane was shaking her head and describing to Caro what had happened
in the mall, when Booker T's "Green Onions" came over the radio.  Jane
paused and sighed, because she had a very vivid memory of dancing to
this very tune while in college.  Caro nudged her, and she sheepishly
grinned back.
	Valerie's clear voice surprised them both as it came from the back
store room, singing a low blues tune.
	"She's the kind of woman who lets you know,
	when she knows what she wants, she won't let go.
	Takes you to a place of your fantasy,
	Walks you to the door but she holds the key
	That girl, Oooh
	 That kind of girl....
	That girl, Oooh
	 That kind of girl...."
	Caro asked "WHAT th-" before Jane shushed her.
	"No matter who you are or what you do," Valerie began a second
verse.
	"she knows how to click in everythin' you do.
	She can make you hot when it's cold outside,
	take you on a hike or make you fly.
	That girl, Oooh
	 That kind of girl....
	That girl, Oooh
	 That kind of girl....
	She switched voices, then, to something that sounded more spoken
than sung, and much more like a male's voice.  Or like a woman singing a
man's part-
	"She's outspoken,
	I'm heartbroken,
	just the kind of girl to keep my love life rollin'.
	She's outspoken,
	I'm heartbroken,
	just the kind of girl to keep my, dot dot dot..."
	Caro broke up in a fit of giggles.
	"Girl to make you break your si-lence and speak.
	Just a glimpse upon the silhouette my knees get weak.
	MMM Mmm, baby baby, so unique,
	A raggae mike take her fer lover make her life complete," then she
switched back to her normal contralto.
	"That girl, Oooh
	 That kind of girl....
	That girl, Oooh
	 That kind of girl...."

	Tucker sighed as he pulled the white lace knee-highs back on.
*Thought I was done with these, but I guess not.*  He was pretty sure
that going back to Jane's was the right decision, but he had this
niggling feeling...
	The shoes came out of the satchel and went back on his feet, and
with one last check in the mirror, he was re-dressed.	*Again,* he
grinned to himself.  He'd also taken the precaution of taping the ATM
card back in his underwear, so everything was almost exactly the same as
it had been when he left Jane's house that morning.
	*Almost,* he smiled as he un-wedged the door and walked out.
	The girls saw him, and goggled for a moment before Trish gave him
a thumbsup.  The rest of them applauded.  Tucker, feeling a little
embarrassed, nevertheless started to take a bow before he remembered he
was in a dress.  *Duh, fuckbrain,* he thought as he turned it into a
curtsy instead.
	Jane was talking to this unfamiliar woman, who turned to look at
Tucker as he came out.  "Excuse me?" the woman asked, "were you the young
lady who was singing just a little while ago?"
	"Uh.  Yeah," Tucker said hesitantly, the hair rising up on his
arms.  Somehow, she looked like any of the other parents that
volunteered to work at schools for things like sports or plays...
	"I was just asking Miz Thompson here," the woman indicated Jane,
"if it would be alright to ask you if you could sing in the choir, the
summer girl's choir?"
	"Um-" said Tucker desperately, trying to think of something.
	"Please," the woman enticed, "It would only take a couple of hours,
three days a week, and we are DESPERATE for a good contralto like you to
round out the mix..."  The woman trailed off, and just looked at Tucker
with this sort of mix of pleading and desperation.
	"U-h-hh-h, um, Jane?" Tucker said, hoping for some sort of
reprieve...

	Jane wanted to scream.  She'd been completely wrong in her tactics
with Valerie.
	The same girl who had defiantly stood her ground in the face of
three adults, daring them to do their worst, now looked like she wanted
to run and hide behind Jane's own skirts!
	*It must be something to do with defiance of authority figures,*
she realized, her thoughts racing.  *Direct conflict, versus an
authority figure, she can fight.*	Goodness, could she fight.  *But, now
that I think of it, her coming back to the mall, after her brilliant
escape, was uncharacteristically foolish.  But I'm certain, I'm CERTAIN,
than one of the girls simply asked, and she couldn't say no.  Oh my
goodness...*  The child simply had little or no resistance to peer
pressure.  Put her in a situation in which it wasn't obviously a
conflict, and she would be helpless!
	To test out her theory, she said sweetly, "Valerie," and the
boy-girl's head bobbled, then started to pale as Jane continued, "I
think it would be a wonderful opportunity for you to get some more
formal training for that MARvelous voice of yours!"
	"Uh-" she started to object, looking almost panicked.
	"Why don't you?" suggested Charlene, a demure smile on her face as
well.  "Since you like singing so much anyway-"
	"Oh, please would you?" Mrs. Bishop pleaded directly to Valerie.
	Jane would treasure the look that appeared on Valerie's face
forever.

	Tucker slumped in his shoes.	"Um, okay, I-"  The rest of his
capitulation was cut off as Mrs. Bishop hugged him and started babbling
about how fun it was going to be and how wonderful all the other girls
were and on and on.  *How do I get into these things?* he wondered.

	Charlie felt as though he'd won something, though he couldn't say
quite what it was.	There had been the incident of comforting Jane, and
the realization that Valerie's flight could mean castastrophe for them
all, including him.  They had, he realized, been treating him as one of
them during the crisis, which was sort of irritating in a way, but it
was also a very nice change from being treated like some sort of
demented P.O.W. in the war between the sexes.
	And then Valerie had come back, apparently of her own free will,
and fought Jane to a standstill, though she had had help.  That had made
Charlie feel more foolish than usual, somehow; probably because he had
never dared do such a thing, and wasn't resisting feminizing somewhere
in the Manly Code?	*Right above watching sports,* he thought, smiling.
But at least it had removed one threat that Charlie hadn't even known
was there - the threat of exposure coming not from his own actions, and
not from the depradations of Jane and her friends, but exposure by
association, from another one of Jane's students.
	And then to see Valerie so reduced to a quivering mass of
helplessness.... well, Charlie knew he wasn't cruel, but having been
roasted on the psychological spit an awful lot in his life, and
especially in the last few months, he could really appreciate watching
someone else impale themselves and writhing over the coals.
	It put him in such a good mood, in fact, that he hardly minded
having to be a polite female and decline Mrs. Bishop's advances to HIM
in a manner that would meet with Jane's approval.  He could even smile
benignly at the girls Valerie had found before they all left to go have
lunch.
	*Life might not be so bad,* he thought as they walked across the
parking lot, *all things considered.*
	Then he remembered what they were going to do next.

	Tucker got into the car, remembering to sweep his skirt forwards
before he sat down.  He never had quite mastered the part about getting
in and out of a car gracefully... then again, neither had Kim.
	He sighed, thinking of all the girls back home, and how long it was
going to be before he saw any of them again.

	Lisa glanced at Debbie, who was staring off into space and looking
melancholy.  She put down the tray of hors d'ouvres and nudged the
dark-haired beauty.  "Hey, come back."
	Debbie started, then looked around guiltily.  "Sorry, Lise, I..."
	"You were thinking about Tuck again, weren't you," she mock-
accused, smiling to take the sting out of it.
	Debbie shrugged.  "Yeah, I mean..."  She sighed.  "Mike said he
said he was doing okay, but I'm still worried about him."
	"He'll be fiiiiine!" Lisa assured her.  "Unlike all these starving
executives if we don't get some of this food out?  Hint hint?"
	"Yesss, mistress," Debbie groaned, and the two women giggled.

	Tucker was kind of curious to see what kind of restaurant would
require reservations and a dress code in this tiny town.  It was sort of
a long drive, but fairly soon they were pulling into a parking lot that
seemed to be on the edge of town on the highway.	Jane pulled the
Lincoln up to the front door and killed the engine, but made no
immediate move to get out.  Instead, she turned around so that she could
see Tucker.  "Girls," she said calmly, but with that commanding tone
Tucker already knew, "I want you two to be on your best behaviour in
here.  Especially you, Valerie.  Is that understood?"
	While Charlene replied, "Yes ma'am," as expected, Tucker said,
"What's so bad about me?"
	Charlene's head torqued around and gave Tucker an incredulous look,
matching Jane's almost perfectly.
	There was one of those pauses.  Tucker folded his arms over his
chest.
	Finally, Jane replied, "Valerie, while I think I can understand
some of your conduct today, it has been diametrically opposed to what
anyone would call 'civilized.'  I am simply warning you that I shall not
tolerate such behaviours in here.	Is that understood?"
	*Oh, yeah, like what are you gonna do to me?* he wondered, but
aloud he said, "Yes ma'am," with the sort of sigh that indicated that he
was being woefully singled out for persecution.
	As usual, everyone in the car ignored his nonverbal protest of
innocence.  Jane unlocked the doors, which was the signal to disembark.
Tucker sighed again as he got out and got a whiff of "fresh" air, air
which he had no doubt was laden with pollens, molds, and other sorts of
allergens which might as well have been expressly designed to kill urban
dwellers.  The sunlight didn't help matters either.
	"AaaCHUTZ!" he complained, rocking on his feet.  And again.  And a
third time.  By the fourth, Jane was blindly stuffing a tissue into his
hands, which he used to wipe off the remains of his body's protest.
	Six seemed to be enough, and when Tucker was relatively certain
that it was enough, he wiped carefully around his eyes, and all over his
nose and mouth, before stuffing the contaminated tissue into his purse.
	Sniffing, he looked up at Jane, who was looking back at him
patiently.  "Fresh air, it's bad for me," he explained.
	Jane nodded silently, the sort of nod his mother would give him
when she was acknowledging the noise he'd made without actually
listening to him.  Tucker sighed to himself as she beckoned the two of
them towards the sidewalk leading to the front door.
     Charlene and he started walking, but Jane waited until she could
get behind them before she followed.  Tucker grinned.	*Gettin' smarter,
are you?	Too bad.*  If she was behind him, it would be easier to run
off.  It was one of those can't-lose situations for Tucker...
	He noticed a motion from Charlene, and was getting ready to go
defensive and extend again before he noticed she was wiping her hands in
her skirt, like she was nervous.  "Nn?" Tucker said, and she turned
around.  "What're YOU nervous about?" he asked.
	"Nothing," she lied defiantly.  "It's just hot."  As it was maybe
eighty degrees outside, Tucker just smiled.	She made a face and turned
frontwards again.
	Tucker was feeling pretty good about life until he saw the
doorman, who smiled and said, "Welcome to the Kensington Gardens,
ladies!" as he threw open the door.  In a bizarre note, he realized that
this was the first black individual he'd seen all day.

	Jane smiled to herself as her two charges stopped in front of the
open door, obviously reluctant to go within.  "Come on, children," she
gently urged from behind, and was gratified to see both of them start.
	"Ahh, Miz Thompson," said George the doorman, smiling at her.
"Good to see you again.  And who are these lovely young ladies?"

	*Oh, brother!* Tuck thought to himself as he plastered a nice-girl
smile on his face.	*If this is a brothel, I am jumping through the
windows and LEAVING.*
	From behind him, he felt a hand touch his shoulder.  "George, I
would like to introduce Charlene," who curtsied, "and Valerie."  A tap
on his shoulder indicated that he was supposed to do something, so he
stuck out his hand.
	As he was cringing, realizing a little too late what Jane wanted -
what that brownnoser had done - George the door-dude smiled even larger,
if that were possible, and shook Valerie's hand.  Tucker's hand
disappeared inside the large black fist.  Tucker had a minor video flash
of George just removing his hand at the wrist #pop#, but not
surprisingly it didn't happen, and Tucker got all of his body pieces
back when George let go.
	"Good afternoon, ladies, I'm George," he said in this theatrical
manner, and he bowed and swept the cap off his head at them.  "Miz
Thompson, if you would care to escort these lovelies inside, I'd be more
than happy to have your car parked for you."  Tucker had to consciously
shut his mouth before he ate a fly.
	"Thank you George," Jane beamed at the man, and gently pushed the
two of them inside.  Tucker looked back, and saw Jane hand the keys to
George along with a bill, and George handed the keys sans bill to some
pimply-faced weasel who dashed out towards the Lincoln.
	Another "Good afternoon ladies!" from the front caught his
attention, and he swivelled around to see a guy in a full tuxedo smiling
at them.	"Ah, Miz Thompson," he said as he came around his podium,
"your table is ready, of course.  Please follow the hostess," and he
swept his arm at a young woman who was wearing clothes that made Tucker
feel rather underdressed.
	She led them through the restaurant, which beat almost any
restaurant Tucker had ever seen, minus the time his dad had celebrated
the founding of his company.	*Oh, great,* he thought getting seriously
nervous at this point.  *Where's Deb when I need her?!*  The other
patrons (NOT customers, not at a place like this) were dressed almost
uniformly in suits and dresses that Tucker knew cost more than he wanted
to think about.
	Tucker suddenly began to regret his choice of hair color, because
people were looking at him.  Twice.

	Jane was rather gratified to see the two boy-girls in front of her
slow down and stiffen, as if they had suddenly realized the nature of
this place.
	*That's what I love about Kingston,* Jane thought happily.  *It
looks so small on the map, who would think that the Fortune 500 set is
denser here than any place except New York and Los Angeles?*
	As she escorted her two charges among the tables, a man she
recognized rose up from his table, along with two she did not.  "Jane!"
said Andy Fulton delightedly, "How good to see you!"
	"Likewise, I'm sure," she said, allowing him to take her hand and
kiss it.	"May I present Charlene," who thank goodness curtsied on cue,
"and Valerie," who was close enough for a reminding tap on the shoulder.

	Tucker was just barely able to keep from screaming when Jane tapped
him.  He was about to reflexively stick out his hand when the memory of
the doorman convinced him that here and now was not the time to be
liberated.  Instead, he did the best curtsy he could manage.
	The man in the hideously expensive suit beamed at both him and
Charlene.  "So nice to meet you, Charlene, Valerie," he said like he
meant it.  "These are some business associates of mine, Mister Anton,"
who shook Jane's hand and smiled at the two of them, "and Mister
Rockefeller," who did the same thing.
	*Rockefeller?* Tucker wondered as he smiled like his life depended
on it.  *As in Standard Oil?*  Tucker had the sudden feeling as if, in a
dream, he'd come out of the shower wearing a towel and met the Queen of
England wearing nothing more than a towel.
	A dirty towel.

	Amazingly, neither of the boys did anything to embarrass her.  Jane
had had one startling moment when she imagined Valerie hearing the name
"Rockefeller" and screaming Communist slogans while attacking the man
with her clutch, but Valerie was apparently intimidated enough to do
nothing but stand and smile.
	"I see you've got a new batch for your charm school," Andy
remarked, smiling at the two boys.

	Charlie felt faint when he heard that.	*Oh.  My.  GOD!* his mind
screamed as he realized a), just what kind of circles Jane moved in when
she wasn't tormenting young males to death, and b) just what kind of
shit HE was skating along the edges of.  These three looked and sounded
like the kind of guys who could make you regret the rest of your life.
Nothing so crude as violence, of course; you'd just be unable to find a
decent job, or get anything on credit ever, or poke your head outside a
deep cave for fear that the newspapers would find you again.
	Charlie knew he didn't have anything like feminine intuition, but
something told him that nothing was ever going to be quite so dangerous
as screwing up the masquerade in front of these men.

	Tucker was frantically chanting the fear prayer out of Dune in his
mind, but it wasn't enough to block out the man's comment, and Jane's
reply of, "I certainly do.  Charlene has been most dedicated to her
studies, and Valerie is a little too new to tell, but I think she will
fall into line quickly enough."

	Jane found it amusing to watch the hair go up on her charges' arms,
but she WAS hungry, and she had already made a luncheon date with Andy
for later this week.  She made a subtle move, which Andy of course
picked up on.	"Well, then, it was extremely nice meeting you two
ladies," he said to her two boys.  Jane always loved hearing something
like that from an unknowing individual.  "Jane, I'll see you later this
week?"
	"Of course," Jane smiled at Andy, then directed her attention to
his two companions.  "Gentlemen, it was nice meeting you."

	Tucker sat down in the seat, only barely remembering to sweep his
skirt as he plopped down gracelessly into the chair.
	When it started moving by itself, Tucker almost screamed and
bailed, but just in time noticed the waiter coming around to Charlene's
chair to do the same thing that one was apparently doing behind Tucker.
	Jane, of course, was acting like this was her due.
	*Jeez,* thought Tucker in an attempt to stabililze his brain, *talk
about your class of bourgeoise pig-oppressors....*
	"Valerie?" prompted Jane, and he had a dim sense of drink-ordering.
	He was about to ask for a coke, but almost simultaneously realized
that he did NOT want to appear that much of a rube in THIS place.  "Um,
tea please?"
	The waiter nodded - no order pad for this crowd, Tucker noticed -
and claimed, "Your drinks will be right out."
	Tucker's eyes somehow met Charlene's, and he realized that no
matter how nervous HE was, she was worse.

	Charlie listened to his heart pound in his ears and wondered if he
was in fact going to have a heart attack and die.
	*Oh please God,* he prayed desperately, *don't let me die here, let
me get outside in the car first, please God....*

	Jane smiled as she observed the whitened faces and rapid breathing
of her two charges.  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly,
feeling that NOW she could indeed relax, just for a little while.
	And have some excellent seafood while she was at it, too.

	It took a couple of minutes before the menu in front of Tucker's
face started to make any sense to him at all.  Jane was being remarkably
quiet, a fact which made Tucker EXTREMELY glad, as he wasn't sure he
could talk without stuttering at this point.  At least his hands weren't
sweating as much, and he had a napkin to soak it up instead of his
skirt.
	It was then that he noticed the "special" section of the menu.

	Jane was debating the merits of lobster versus scallops when
Valerie asked, almost in a whisper, "Jane?"
	Jane looked up at her and smiled broadly.  "Yes, dear, what is it?"
	Valerie swallowed nervously and dipped her gaze back down towards
her menu.  "Um, they say they have sashimi..."
	"Have you ever had it?" Jane inquired.  Valerie bobbled her head a
few times, not daring to look at Jane.	"Well, if you know what you're
getting into, then I suppose I could be indulgent this one time."
	"Sa-sashimi?" Charlene asked.
	"Sushi?" Jane prompted in reply.

	Charlie stared at Valerie in mixed disgust and terror.  *_I_ just
went through THAT and SHE is going to eat RAW FISH?!*
	"Thank you Jane," Valerie said quickly, and bobbled her head again
in a seated obiesance.

	Tucker was too engrossed in plotting what combinations of sashimi
he could a) eat and b) stomach to notice anything else going on around
him.  In fact, he just noticed that the menu he was holding did not have
prices on it.	*Oh, God, I hope Jane has enough... what am I THINKING?!*
he screamed at himself.	*We just met a fucking ROCKEFELLER!  Of COURSE
she has enough money!*
	The burst of mental hysteria, oddly enough, made him feel better
enough that he didn't jump like Charlene did when the drinks came down
from the heavens, or so it seemed.
	Tucker turned his attention back to his appetite and the delicacies
promised on the menu.  *Hmmm, tuna, yellowback...*

	Charlene had ordered something light, and Jane had decided on the
scallops, but Valerie was still concentrating on the menu.	"Valerie?"
she prompted again.
	"Um.  Jane, um, is there a limit on how much I can get?" she asked.
	Jane's eyebrow went up involuntarily.  "How... much, were you
planning on ordering?" she asked slowly.
	"Um."  Valerie swallowed.  "Well, I mean, I really like sashimi."
	Jane smiled in spite of herself.  "IF you think you can eat it all,
order as you will.	BUT," she warned, and was rewarded with a cringe, "I
am not going to subsidize you eating leftover sashimi for the next week.
Is that understood, young lady?"
	"Yes ma'am!" Valerie replied with a shy smile, and she turned to
the waiter and began to rattle off her order.
	Jane's eyebrows went up, and up, as Valerie ordered things that
Jane would rather not ever put in her mouth.  *Where did this child
learn to like _cuttlefish_?* she wondered.

	Charlie fumed as the little bitch went on and on.  He'd thought he
was being restained and ladylike by ordering a boiled shrimp salad, but
the little geek was going for a blowout.
	Of raw FISH.
	Charlie wondered if Jane would let him sit at another table.
	*On second thought, being alone in here is NOT my idea of a fun
time,* he reconsidered.	*Great.  Now I have to watch China-girl eat
live goldfish, AND I have to keep Jane happy with nice manners, too.
Wonder if she'll get mad if I barf?*
	*Probably,* he answered himself with a sigh.

	Jane sipped her bloody mary as she watched the youngster fling
sashimi into her mouth as if there was no tomorrow.  With chopsticks,
yet.  "Valerie," she finally said, "there is plenty of time to eat your
food properly.  Slow down."
	"Mmmm, sorry ma'am," the child said as she swallowed.
	"Charlene, how is your salad?"
	"It, it's good," the other one admitted nervously.

	Watching Valerie eating wasn't quite the ordeal that Charlie had
expected.  For one thing, it was all put on top of little balls of rice
so it sort of looked almost like a pastry, if you half closed your eyes.
He'd done just that until Jane had objected.
	For another thing, it really didn't look like fish, especially.
Charlie had never eaten the stuff, so he'd sort of been expecting things
like sardines except still flopping around, on crackers maybe.  This
looked more like a fillet, which to him looked more like food.
	Not that he'd ever eat any of it.
	As if the little brat was telepathic, she looked up and grinned at
him.  "Want some?" she asked, in the most polite and submissive voice
Charlie had heard out of her yet.
	"No.  Thank you," he remembered to add.
	"Have you ever tried it?" Jane asked softly.  He knew before he
glanced at her that she had _that smile_ on her face.
	"Um, Jane, it's RAW FISH," he pointed out.
	"Not really," Valerie said happily, "they sort of marinate it, like
beef tartare, and they freeze it too if you're worried about intestinal
parasites-"
	"Valerie, intestinal parasites are NOT a polite subject of
discussion at the table."  Charlie, for once, agreed one hundred percent
with his chief tormentor.
	"Sorry ma'am," Valerie said, almost managing to sound sincere.
"Anyway," she said to Charlie, "want to try some?  Here," she said,
putting a little on her unused bread plate, "try this.  It's yellowtail,
and pretty mild."  She passed the plate to Jane, who held it in her
hand, smiling _that smile_ at Charlie.
	Charlie sighed.  *If I don't take it, she'll make me take it, and
do something worse too.*  He knew her by now, and when she challenged
him, it was usually a test that, in retrospect, he'd rather have passed
willingly.  *But it's RAW FISH!*
	"Just try a little," Jane 'suggested' as she proffered the plate at
him.  Charlie sighed, and bowed to the inevitable, taking the plate from
Jane's hand.  Valerie, the brat, was watching with her hands clasped to
one side of her face, looking for all the world like she was innocent.
	*She was probably going to go to jail for poisoning someone,*
Charlie decided.
	Still, everyone was watching him, and he had a sneaking suspicion
that Jane wouldn't have put him through five months of hell just to let
another student poison him in a public restaurant.  So he wrapped
himself in his courage, and gingerly reached out a hand and touched the
offending morsel.
	It felt like raw fish.
	"Better than the fried stuff," Valerie commented, and was instantly
put down by a glare from Jane that needed no words.
	"Just try a small bite," Jane said, and with that, Charlie grabbed
it and took a small bite before he had time to think any more.
 
Copyright 1997-1999 Ellen Hayes, all rights reserved