Lisa began to feel warmer again, more relaxed. She'd made the right choice after all. She looked up at the monstrous pillars guarding the city. They looked less threatening now. Yes, Sutton was where she belonged. She was glad once again that she had kissed Mrs. Turner's bony ass, that she had begged for a home in Sutton. Sutton was all right. Undoubtedly, among Sutton's endless ranks of super athletes, she'd find herself a super boyfriend, a handsome youth with beautiful muscles and a big horny cock. And then she'd be satisfied. That was all she wanted; all she'd ever wanted.

The bus was passing huge white houses. Most had two stories and large, leaf-blanketed lawns. Lisa was beginning to see more people now, mostly old men raking leaves. In a heap of leaves on one of the lawns, two boys were wrestling. They were barefooted, barechested, and dressed in ragged jeans. The boys were perhaps eleven or twelve, and fighting fiercely, rolling in the leaves like young tigers. Lisa was struck by their viciousness. They crushed and clawed and beat each other mercilessly.

Then, as if responding to a referee's whistle, they both jumped up, gazing at a young woman with a shopping bag who was passing by on the sidewalk.

The boys shout and laughed the woman, then looked at each other, laughing. The woman waved a blue umbrella at the boys, as if threatening them with it. Lisa wondered what on earth the woman was doing carrying an umbrella on a partly cloudy day.

The boys lunged at the woman, circling her like two dogs. As they danced around her, keeping just out of range of her menacing umbrella, they flashed their brown middle fingers at her, laughing all the while and apparently taunting her with their words. As the bus continued on toward the depot, Lisa stared back after the boys and the woman until they were out of sight. What was that all about? she wondered.