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%u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOKWhat They Did to the Kid 117shoe box full of personal things away behind some pipes in the boiler room where Gunn would never look.%u201cBeautiful day.%u201d Lock flopped onto the couch of the dear departed Monsignor Linotti. He peeled his shirt, planted his feet on a crate, faced the west.%u201cYou%u2019ll burn with the late sun,%u201d I said.%u201cHere%u2019s a burn for you.%u201d Mike tossed a match at Lock.%u201cWatch it,%u201d Lock said. %u201cYou%u2019ll start the couch on fire.%u201d%u201cThe burning of Rome,%u201d I said.%u201cVatican II is burning down, burning down.%u201d Mike lit a cigarette and tossed the match at me.%u201cLock%u2019s in the hot seat,%u201d I said, %u201con Nero%u2019s couch.%u201d%u201cHank Rimski, the zero, is no Nero and no hero,%u201d Lock said.Our ongoing war with Hank, his brother, whom Lock had begun to call %u201cPeterPeterPeter,%u201d and all those holy seminarians who thought they were destined to be bishops and cardinals continued. Their attitude made the couch in the woods symbolic. Ski%u2019s garden had become their choice retreat. Hank said PeterPeterPeter and his crowd called the garden %u201cLittle Rome.%u201dMike lit a match. %u201cLook at this.%u201d He set the whole matchbook on fire.%u201cYou%u2019re demented.%u201d Lock stretched out his full length on the couch. %u201cI%u2019m not getting up.%u201d%u201cWanna play Joan of Arc?%u201d Mike threw the burning matchbook at the cloth-covered couch. The wind snuffed it out.%u201cJeez, if you%u2019re really going to burn it,%u201d Lock stood up, %u201cdump it over on the garden. The weeds are too dry out here.%u201dWe tipped the couch upside down. Mike lit the upholstery and the wind whipped a spiral of black smoke up into the bright air. %u201cHa!%u201d Suddenly, brilliantly, fire engulfed the whole couch. %u201cJeez!%u201d The wind cracked the flames. %u201cChrist!%u201d We retreated back from the blazing heat.%u201cFire is amazing,%u201d Mike said. %u201cThe whole woods will burn,%u201d I yelled. %u201cWe need water!%u201d%u201cThe pond%u2019s too far,%u201d Mike said.%u201cThrow dirt on it.%u201d Lock beat at the burning grass with his shirt. %u201cGet that side of the clearing.%u201d%u201cBreak up that crate box, Ry. Hurry.%u201d Mike stamped around on the burning grass, flames licking at his shoes.We beat at it, clawing handfuls of smothering dirt. %u201cPiss on it,%u201d I kept yelling at the visions of the goddam woods burning down, flames licking up Misery%u2019s bricks, burning the wood floors and desks and papers and