Vitus, at length, managed to pin Tabby's attention down. She even seemed to be speaking Glennish. Victory!
      "Mind you," she said, "I don't know what young Jack did before party.  Can't imagine it was too excitin' ..."

***

Seven years ago
 
Parkville was ancient at its core, a cobblestone village of lovely brick buildings, potted flowers, and colorful tiled roofs. Classically decorated ironwork lamp posts, gates, and trellises completed the scene.
      But the core wasn't all there was to Parkville. When natives thought of the place, they thought of the aftermath of the development boom, of ugly "ranch" houses, of apartment complexes that used to border on tourist spots but now just bordered on other apartments, the class of the occupants grading from poor to wretched.
      In a stretch of dilapidated old houses on sparse, scrubby lots, a small house squatted with ugly greyed wood bulging behind its blistered buttermilk colored paint. Metal poles for clotheslines sat unused in the front yard, crucifixes waiting for the bastards that made the place to come back and get theirs. The sun crowding in through the spotted windows began to fade, and Jack Ballard began to awaken.

      "...Yeah.... Never seen a grilled cheese before? It's not bad. I just don't wanna eat it."
      "Oh, of course. And thank you for the generous offer. I suppose that my constitution has become too refined
since the elevation of my own class some years ago."
      "Oh well then. Can I leave it on your dash board?"
      "Well, no... I know! I bet omnivorous wild beasts would love it. Cast it from the window, if you please."
      "Wow. You're weird." He tossed it out the window. "So if I get to be a rich grown-up, am I not gonna remember
what sandwiches look like too?"
      "Haha, well... Recall I was poor in another land. 'Grilled Cheese' was outside of my culture. Please don't consider me a snob."
      "You let me ride in a thing like this, you can call me anything you want... Y'know, I've never seen you eat, or even smoke.
What do you do, Mr. I?"
      Demetri caught Jack's gaze in the rearview mirror. "You've seen me eat plenty of times."