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then I spray it again and it falls back down on that ledge. I spray it two more times, and now it's on
its back and is incapable of flipping itself over. I keep spraying it over and over again until it
appears to be caught in some kind of web because of all the spray. For about ten seconds, after I
stop spraying, all I can see is it kicking its feet, trying to get out. Each kick is weaker than the last,
until it stops kicking completely. That's when the noise coming from the living room becomes
more noticeable to me.

Soft knocking on my door that seems to belong to Lynne, except it's not Lynne. It's her sister,
Claire, who as soon as I open the door makes her way in. It reminds me of Tao.

We are both sitting down on the couch, and she is trying to convince me to tell Lynne that she is
making a mistake. That Silvio is a bad person. Not in those words.

It looks like Silvio's hold on Claire has worn out, and she has opened her eyes, but unfortunately he
has his hold on Lynne now. For the second time. I ask Claire why she came to me of all people, that
Lynne and I don't even really know each other that well. Claire says that when her and Lynne were
on speaking terms, all Lynne would ever talk about was me. I tell her that even so, I wouldn't want
to intrude on something I'm not welcomed to intrude on. The way Claire looks at me after I say that
makes me think that this is Lynne's cry for help to me. That she wants me to come and save her, but
I'm not a superhero.

I ask Claire why she doesn't ask some of Lynne's friends, and she laughs. She's not laughing at me,
she's laughing at what I said. She tells me that Lynne isn't exactly the type of person who has many
friends. How about some? Some maybe, if she's doing good. Doing good? "It's not something I can
explain in words," Claire says.

Claire tells me about how Lynne just moved here from the inner city and probably hasn't made any
friends. She tells me about how Lynne isn't the weirdest person, but also isn't the most sociable.
She will dress up all pretty and nice so that she is noticed, but when someone finally notices her she
will push them away. One of her psychological fragments.

Claire asks me one last time to talk to her, and I say I'll think about it. That's a lie. Then she leaves
through the back door. As I show Claire the door, I see Mary throwing out her garbage. She still
looks sick. I think to myself that I hadn't seen her around this much since she first moved in. Maybe
she's dying. That would certainly get her to put her priorities in order.

Chapter 43:
"265 DEAD"

It's early September now, and on my favorite television channel they are reporting that since the
beginning of the year, two-hundred and sixty-five people have been killed at the hands of another
person. They normally don't report this number, but because it is so high someone has to take
notice. I continue to watch, and as a special they have a section on one of their reporters going into
the inner city and interviewing the residents that live in the places where the homicide rate is so
high. As I watch these people talk, I slowly realize how sometimes when we try to remember our
dreams, they appear to us in the presentation of a movie or a television show in the sense that we
aren't exactly in the piece, but looking at it from an undisclosed perspective. A front-row seat to the