Pool_1

careful anatomy lesson was given, bone by busted bone, joint by rended joint, a clear and unmistakable 'You were not done, Salvatore Lotto!' Justice was clear. Crisp snapping clarity of the sentence needed no explanation or references to numbered paragraphs or special definitions of terms." Marcus lowered his tone and slowed his throbbing pace to deliver, "Lotto was barely alive when the ambulance came for him. A caller, with thickened speech, stuttered that a 'a a w-w-w- weed w-w-was in n-need,' and something about being plucked from the garden." "Although Chuck was hauled off by the police, he was back home in less than forty minutes, without charges. Evidently a call by this fellow Nino spoke words on behalf of the boy. Nino could have elicited their compassion for this young crusader, for his cause. Why else would they just let him go? That is what they said. Actually, Nino merely indicated that this stuttering fellow had a line around him and hung up. Whatever that meant - it seemed to be enough." The table party couldn't know the significance of this. Besides, this had nothing to do with insurance companies, a general murmur went up. Shannon, on the other hand, was not so sure that it was unrelated. She thought to herself, "They act like brutes because they can act like brutes. There is nobody who stands up to them. There is no justice. We need a hero," she again muttered. "They're not done!" Marcus again quietly asserted, taking on a dark and distant look as he sank back into his own silence, a silence that others knew to observe, a silence that overtook him when he reflected on the pool.