suddenly disappear, left town without telling a soul?"

"Why you keep asking about my childhood?" To Ruth Ann: "Sis, you're not letting your oldest brother, your only straight brother, lose his dream and get kicked out on the street, are you? I'm begging you. Please! If I had money you wouldn't have to ask--I'd just give it to you."

"Would you, really?"

"Yes. In a heartbeat. Whatever you needed."

"Stop your begging, straight brother," Shirley said. "You'll get your share."

"What? Is that right, Ruth Ann?"

Ruth Ann nodded.

Robert Earl jumped up in the air several times, shaking the entire cabin. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you, Ruth Ann. Thank you! I told Shirley you were reasonable. I knew you were better off alive than dead."

"What?" Ruth Ann said.

"Nothing. You're my favorite sister." Hethe couch, legs akimbo, his groin only a few inches from the man's feet.

Again the man stopped snoring, and Eric watched the man's chest stop rising and falling as well. Is he dead? The snoring restarted and the man crossed his right leg over the left and rested his feet squarely in Eric's crotch. Rivulets of sweat dripped down Eric's face and the stench of the man's feet almost made him hurl.

A monk, he promised. If Jesus got him out of this, he would become a monk. Promise! On my dead momma's grave! The man rubbed his nose and dug his feet deeper into Eric's crotch, pressing his genitals in a most painful manner.

Certain he would lose his most vital organ, Eric grabbed a throw pillow, lifted the