"Hell, Don… this town's too small! The word gets around pretty damned fast!"

Don sighed and turned away. "Yeah… and we're the last to find out about it!"

"… But, that's your mom's bag… right now, we're talking about that gorgeous sister of yours," Ray went on. "I know I'd sure as hell like to lay her!"

"Cry your eyes out… because you'll never get the chance!" Don retorted.

"Why not? If you turned her on… I sure as hell can, too!"

"How?" Don queried.

"I've got a way… believe me! It hasn't failed yet!"

"Bullshit!"

"Can I try?"

"Like you know, man… she's got a mind of her own! But I don't think you'll get very far!"

Don told him. He was sure in his own mind that Charity would not be taken in by anything Ray could tell her.

"I asked you can I try it!"

"Yeah, man… go ahead!" Don said, airily. "But I'm going to watch you work!"

"But no interference!" Ray warned.

"Okay! No interference…"

"Split… and meet me at my house… my folks are gone… some kind of meeting in Chicago…"

"When?"

"Oh, like an half hour."

Don rose to his feet and ambled down the picturesque mall toward where he had parked his motorbike next to Ray's enclosed van. Christ! This is crazy! I'm going to be watching… while he tries to get Charity into the sack! That's what I want, myself…! And, I didn't want some other guy in on the act! Come to think of it, though… there's a lot of sharing, like that… when you're on the street!

***

No really straight thinking about any of her problems had come to Charity. To say that she was confused and hurt would be a gross understatement. The anguish she experienced was almost unbearable. Within a short space of time, she had undergone shock, extreme shock that had shattered her whole existence. Her sense of having been betrayed was an overriding feeling within her.