“And practice this: ‘Yo no soy una puta.’” Kyle said the words in an angry, accented voice.Livia raised a sensitive, red, now-thin eyebrow at her sister.“It means ‘I am not a hooker’ in Spanish. And you already know it in English, so you should be good.”

“I don't know which one is the real you," I said. "Are you more like Kyle the dick or Kyle the good guy?”

“Okay," Christian said with a great show at maintaining his patience. "So you can't dance. But you could at least talk to the woman."Julius frowned and avoided his gaze. "I am talking.""You aren't," Christian insisted. "You haven't said more than a handful of words."Scowling, he admitted, "I'm practicing in my head."Christian blinked at this. "Practicing?""Well, you don't just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind," Julius said with exasperation. "I have to approach this carefully, so I'm practicing.""In your head?" Christian clarified."Yes." Julius nodded. "In my head.""Right....Good, good," he nodded, and then said "but you know what would be even better?"Julius raised his eyebrows with interest. "What?""Talking to her OUT LOUD!" Christian snapped. "Jesus Christ, Father, you're as old as the earth. You run a huge corporation, dealing with people-even women-day in day out. Surely you can string a couple of words together and manage a little conversation with the woman?”

“Schist," said an angry voice from the grass. Hazel raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?" "Schist! Big pile of schist!”

“How do you know that?""Because,"Chong said with raised eyebrows,"when you open those things called 'books',there are words as well as pictures.Sometimes the words tell you stuff.”

“He sucked his lips in an attempt not to laugh. "Aren't you Spanish?"She raised one arm in a salute. "Viva la Queen Isabella!""I see. Then why are you speaking with a French accent?”