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Back Bowl of Cherries
Chapters (45)
  1. Cover Page
  2. BOWL OF CHERRIES
  3. Dedication
  4. ONETHE LAST MILE
  5. TWODIXIELAND
  6. THREETHE INSPECTOR GENERAL
  7. FOURA GIRL IN THE HEART OF MARYLAND
  8. FIVECONSOLATION
  9. SIXFAREWELL TO COLLEGE JOYS
  10. SEVENCHATTERTON
  11. EIGHTTHE MARVELOUS BOY
  12. NINEBAND OF BROTHERS
  13. TENYEARNING JUST FOR YOU
  14. ELEVENTHE CANDY BOX
  15. TWELVETHE PRINCE
  16. THIRTEENFAT CHANCE
  17. FOURTEENTHE SECRET OF THE PYRAMIDS
  18. FIFTEENTHE INCENDIARY
  19. SIXTEENHEAVEN
  20. SEVENTEENKNOCKOUT
  21. EIGHTEENKEEPER OF THE FLAME
  22. NINETEENA DAUGHTER OF THE WILLIWAW
  23. TWENTYGOOD-BYE AGAIN
  24. TWENTY-ONEUNDER THE BRIDGE
  25. TWENTY-TWOINCOMING MAIL
  26. TWENTY-THREESAY NOT THE STRUGGLE NAUGHT AVAILETH
  27. TWENTY-FOURAPPOINTMENT IN COPROLIABAD
  28. TWENTY-FIVETHE SWEETHEART OF SIGMA KI
  29. TWENTY-SIXGIFTS AND ENDEARMENTS
  30. TWENTY-SEVENTHE JEWEL OF IRAQ
  31. TWENTY-EIGHTCUSTOMS OF THE COUNTRY
  32. TWENTY-NINESEE AND TALK TO LIVE NUDE GIRL
  33. THIRTYMUCH IN DEMAND
  34. THIRTY-ONETHE STONE-AGE MONARCH
  35. THIRTY-TWOTHE CAVE AND THE ETHNOGRAPHER
  36. THIRTY-THREEPLOTS AND PLANS
  37. THIRTY-FOURTHE CARRIER OF LIGHT AND POWER
  38. THIRTY-FIVETHE GOOD AMBASSADRESS
  39. THIRTY-SIXTHE SOLDIER
  40. THIRTY-SEVENQUESTIONABLE BEHAVIOR
  41. THIRTY-EIGHTPATH TO GLORY
  42. THIRTY-NINETO THE DARK TOWER
  43. FORTYCONSPIRACY
  44. FORTY-ONETHUNDER AND FLAME
  45. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“I don’t trust him.” He knew what I was saying. I don’t trust you.

TWENTY-FIVE
THE SWEETHEART OF SIGMA KI

My jailer hands me the missive.

“Hey you!”

So reads the letter’s salutation on a pink page freighted with perfume, an essence sharper than the writer’s pen and reeking like a call girl’s pussycat.

First of all you should know that I am not only a Member in good standing of the Williwaws but I am President of the Club and I want to thank you for your help which I sincerely appreciate along with bad news my Grandmama past altho the good news is she left me you wouldn’t believe it a shitpot of Money and so I enrolled at Comanche College in Eureka not far from Denver which it is a ball. I’m majoring in French and my French Professor who is a doll says I have a real nack for it altho I have decided to go on and be a vetinarian because there’s nobody in my whole class who has the Experience and the Advantages I have like slicing the balls off a bull. I got to tell you I think of you often when I have the time you see I live in Town now and am very busy what with being a Cheerleader for the Black and Blue Cliff Dwellers at Hockey games along with all the rest like Football and Basketball and being chosen Homecoming Queen and Winter Carnival De-Icer at Steamboat Springs as well as the Sweetheart of Sigma Ki, Fi Epsilon Pie, Kappa Sig, Lamda Ki Alf and I forget the other one, everybody but those dorks at Fi Gam who don’t have a Sweetheart what about you? I hope you are taking good care of your skinny little tush.

Your friend,

Dawnette.

TWENTY-SIX
GIFTS AND ENDEARMENTS

A mist shimmered in Abdul’s molasses eyes as he spoke lovingly of his father. “If you really want to make the old man happy,” he said, “get him a movie star.”

The conference had been going from bad to worse. It hadn’t even begun well, and it was a sticky, tricky enterprise even before it began, a test of faith, patience, and stamina. Getting Abdul in the same room with Grady was a trial. He refused to step across the threshold of UGH headquarters. He didn’t welcome Grady at his flat. Summit meets between superpowers were more easily negotiated.

We convened for our power breakfast, finally, at a comparatively neutral site—the pad I shared with Valerie—to exchange essential information, iron out the wrinkles, and, hopefully, reach accord.