After I’d opened the first        
package, I could feel the atmosphere in
the room change slightly. It was like  
being in a soap opera, and my friends  
were the audience.                     
     This was where I was drawing a    
line in the sand and asking them, my   
secret friends, and one arch enemy, and
even Beth, to cross over with me.      
     This was not a fantasy anymore.   
This was real. We could go to jail for 
this, and the two dead cats on the     
floor proved that.                     
     It was like I was saying to them, 
either you're with me, or you’re       
against me. Follow me over this line or
shoot me now.                          
     But, I couldn't ask them to cross 
that line until I explained the risk to
them, and that’s what I did. Getting   
* caught was the big risk. Anything else   
would be small potatoes, and then I    
told them my plan.                     
     I went into excruciating detail   
about it, and after more than an hour, 
my arch-enemy, who else, told me that I
was all wet.                           
     “Mouse just thought of a better   
plan, a way better one,” she said,     
nudging her, “Mouse?”                  
     We’d moved operations back into   
the living room, and they were sitting 
next to each other on the couch, along 
with Pee Wee on one end, and Beth on   
the other. I was sitting on the armrest
next to Beth, and Darryl was standing  
behind a chair near his bar.           
     He was making me tired just       
looking at him.                        



CHAPTER 14: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31st
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