"Yeah...well, g'bye. I'm late for my second shift."

"Until next time." Then Lillian turned and headed off in the direction of her home, all the while looking around just in case something were to happen.

Nothing happened. Jack ran off to the Jazz Club.

Eddie walked through the park with his trombone. He hadn't seen Russ since the thing with the girl in the park. He wondered what had happened with that girl. He hoped Russ hadn't done anything nuts and run away with her. He sat down by the tree where Russ had fallen over the girl, sat down, and started playing "Margie" on his trombone.

((From Stone Ridge Private School))

Lillian ran to the park and to a place that most would not look. There was a willow tree beside the pond and she went through the leaves and collapsed by the trunk of the tree.

Eddie continued playing his trombone, then put it down by his side. He lay down on the grass and closed his eyes.

Lillian pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her forehead on her knees. Then she started to cry. It was not supposed to be like this. Two days in a row Blanche had gotten her to leave school early. Having been accepted to college did not mean that she wanted to slack off.

(Aww...I actually feel sort of bad for Lillian.)

Eddie heard what sounded like crying behind him. He rolled over and saw it was the girl from the park!

"What's wrong?" Eddie asked. "Russ make you bleed then leave?"

Lillian's head jerked up and when she saw Eddie she wiped the tears from her eyes. She did not like others to see her when she was crying. "It has absolutely nothing to do with Russ. There's just this girl at school and...it doesn't really matter."

"What about her?"

Lillian sighed. "She thrives on making others miserable and it seems that I am the one she is focused on right now."

"You should talk to Russ. He knows how to handle those things."

She shook her head. "No. He made it worse."

"Oh, he worked his "magic", did he?"

"If his magic is getting himself in a position to be arrested and making this whole situation worse for me, then yes, he did."

"That's Russ." Eddie says. "He tries, you know. He just - is misdirected, I suppose. If you only took the time to get to know him, you'd understand. He's a wonderful guy. The best friend a fellow could ask for."

"I never said that I didn't want to get to know him."

"Do you know where he is now?"

She shook her head. "No. The last time I saw him was here last night. I don't know where he could be."

"He's probably at work."

"He works at the Jazz Club, doesn't he?" Lillian asked. "I can't go there."

"Why not?"

"Because I simply do not go to places like that. They serve alcohol there and I refuse to go near the stuff."

"Jesus Christ drank alcohol."

"Do I look like Jesus to you?" Lillian asked. "I have seen what alcohol can do to a person and to a family so I want nothing to do with it. We all can make a decision and this is mine."

"Well, I'm not trying to start a row or anything." Eddie replied.

"Good, because I am not in the mood to deal with any of that right now."

"Are you taken with Russ?"

Lillian sighed. "I don't really know. Honestly, for me, it is too early to say. I find him to be interesting and I know that I would like to spend more time with him," she answered.

"Perhaps Russ might get a kick out of you visiting him anyhow." Eddie stood up before she could say anything further, and ran off with a quick "goodbye".

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