The American Prince 3: Life's Changes

It was the spring that Colin had turned 14. Tony had just graduated with his Bachelors degree, and Colin was in his last few days of school before the summer break. They’d had a wonderful year. In addition to all Colin’s normal activities, he and Tony had spent countless hours on the lake, fishing, water skiing, boating, and just being together. They’d gone camping several times, had spent two days at Disney World and Bush Gardens, and had even gone deep sea fishing twice. Tony still hadn’t decided what he was going to do about graduate school, but there was no doubt in his mind that whatever he did, he would be including Colin in his plans.

Colin had grown very slowly, and was now looking more like a twelve year old than his actual age. For reasons no one will ever know, puberty seemed to have stalled in mid term. His genitals had grown a little, his pubic hair had thickened some, but not nearly as much as both boys had hoped or planned. His voice was still the high, clear soprano voice of a small boy, much to his chagrin. He loved his voice and what he could do with it singing, but he was becoming anxious to become more of an adult; and increasingly, he was becoming anxious to consummate his love for Tony. Tony, on the other hand, completely and totally loved his young lover, but he stubbornly refused to do any more with him than they’d done on their very first night as lovers. Colin didn’t like it much, but he understood. He was also kept so incredibly busy that he wouldn’t have had much time for sex anyway. He was to embark on a very intensive training program as soon as school was done for the summer; this program would climax in early August by a trip to Chicago where he would try to qualify for the national Olympic team. His coach had assured both Colin and Tony that he had little doubt that Colin would qualify. The summer training, he’d told them, was simply a plan to increase his chances from 90% to 100.

They had just finished an incredible weekend; one of those very few weekends where neither had anything to do: no assignments, no games or swim meets, no homework, no exams. Colin had simply to show up at school Monday morning to get his final report card, and then he’d be done with school for the summer. They had spent the entire weekend on the lake. Colin had invited two of his school friends over on Saturday, and they had spent the whole day water skiing. Sunday was spent with just the two of them: Colin and Tony, cruising around the lake fishing. They had caught dozens of fish, some of them very impressive bass. But they had thrown them back to thrill them yet another day. At six they had docked and secured the boat and grilled the four fish they’d decided to keep, and now they were both lying on top of Tony’s bed, watching TV.

They talked about the past year and how happy they both had been. They discussed the upcoming summer, and Colin’s bid for the Olympic team. Tony congratulated his young friend a number of times for having been selected Student of the Year at Willowcrest, and how much of an honor that had been. They talked at length about graduate school for Tony and where he planned to go. He told Colin that he was reconsidering his plans for Child Psychology in favor of law. He assured Colin that whatever he chose, his first priority would be to remain in the area so they wouldn’t be separated. They kissed often, and each took more liberties than ever before with the other’s body, although those liberties never progressed beyond touching, feeling and exploring.

By midnight, both were sound asleep, snuggled closely in each other’s arms, the TV still blaring whatever movie was on. At two AM Wallace Frank arrived home unexpectedly. He entered the house as quietly as he could, knowing that the two occupants would be sound asleep. He removed his shoes and crept up the stairs. He heard the TV in Tony’s room and saw the light from under the door. He walked past, then noticed Colin’s bedroom door hanging open. Curious, he peeked in and saw the bed empty. More curious now, he walked back to Tony’s room just as Tony woke up and turned off the TV, which woke Colin. “Whaaa...” Colin said sleepily.

“Go back to sleep, handsome,” Tony said. “I just turned off the TV.”
“I love you, Tony,” Colin said as he kissed his lover, loud and wet. “Nite.”
“Nite, gorgeous,” Tony answered as he snuggled in more closely, if that was possible. For the first time, in his more asleep than awake state, Colin wrapped his small hand around Tony’s raging erection and squeezed. Tony, realizing that it was more an unconscious act than a conscious one, let it slide and he too drifted off to sleep, with wonderful sensations coursing through his body.

Wallace Frank stood outside the bedroom door and seethed. It only took him a few seconds to conjure up all sorts of things that had gone on in that bedroom, and had probably been going on for months. But he was tired, so he went to his own bedroom and went to bed. Tomorrow would be lots of time to deal with it.

Tony had been driving Colin to school every day because Colin had swim practice for two hours before school started. Today, there was no practice so Colin had arranged for the school van to pick him up. He slipped out of bed at 6 AM and went to his own room, got dressed, and left the house quietly without waking Tony. He still didn’t even know that his father was home.

When Tony finally awoke a little after 8, he heard noises downstairs. He pulled on a pair of sweat pants and as quietly as possible, crept down the stairs. He found Wallace Frank in the kitchen, rustling around trying to make coffee. “Oh, it’s you, Mr. Frank,” Tony said with relief. “I didn’t know you were coming home.”
“That’s pretty obvious,” Wallace said with a sneer. “I got home last night at about two AM.”
“I can make the coffee,” Tony offered. “I do it every morning.”
“I’m sure you do,” Wallace answered. “But you will never make coffee again in this house. Sit down, you and I need to have a talk.”

Tony sat down, knowing that whatever had set this man off had set him off good. His face was flushed, he was speaking with the cold deliberate tone of one who was having trouble controlling himself, and so had to be careful of what he was saying. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but Wallace stared him down, holding his hand up in a gesture that said he didn’t want to hear anything the young man had to say. “I heard you two in bed last night,” Wallace said as he sat down.
Tony smiled. “Oh, that,” he said with relief.
“Yes, THAT!” Wallace said. “You make it sound as if it’s nothing!”
“It is nothing, sir. I mean, yes, Colin often sleeps with me, but that’s all we do. He gets lonely, sir. But if you think I’m molesting him...”
“I don’t think, Tony, I know. I know what I heard, and I’m not stupid!”
“Sir, I assure you...”
“I’m sure you do, but I’m not interested in any more of your assurances. You may not realize it, but you are in a very precarious position. Do you have any idea how much jail time you could serve for what you’ve done?”
“I told you, I haven’t done anything.”
“I don’t even want to hear it. If you want to insist on your innocence, you can do it in a court of law. But I have an alternative, and a very generous one I think you’ll agree.”

Tony pictured himself in his mind, trying to fight off charges of molestation. He knew he was innocent, but he also knew the odds of getting an innocent verdict. With his limited finances he would probably have to use a court appointed attorney, and he knew that Wallace would use all the vast resources at his disposal to convict him. He had little trouble picturing himself spending twenty years behind bars. Even if by some miracle he was found innocent, his life would still be ruined, his career in shambles.

“Here’s my proposition,” Wallace went on. “I want you out of this house today, before Colin gets home. I am prepared to credit your account with one hundred thousand dollars toward your education, on the condition that you have no more contact with my son. You will take the money and move far enough away that there will be no more contact. You should have no problems transferring your credits, so you can continue your education there.”
“I can’t just leave Colin like that,” Tony protested. “He loves me! He needs me! And I love him!”

“The alternative,” Wallace went on as if Tony had not spoken at all, “I will immediately bring charges of child abuse against you, which will certainly put you out of circulation for a long time, and it will certainly destroy your career plans. I will be enrolling Colin in a residential military school in Virginia where he will live until he is 18. It’s your choice, and you have fifteen minutes to make that choice.”

“Military school?” Tony responded. “Please don’t do that, sir. That’ll kill Colin! He’s been chosen to go into intensive training for the US Olympic team, and he starts next week. He’s given up his summer to enter this program, and that will be gone if he changes schools. Please, don’t do that to him!”

“I suggest you not worry about Colin,” Wallace rebutted. “He is no longer your concern, and you have quite a dilemma of your own to consider.”
“There’s nothing to consider,” Tony said. “I would gladly do the jail time if it meant Colin could go through with his plans. If those are my choices, I’ll go. I would like to say good-bye to him, or leave him a note or something.”
“If you do, the deal is off. I already told you, condition number one of this offer is that you leave now, and don’t come back, don’t look back. No contact of any kind with my son.”

Tony didn’t see that he had a choice at all. He pleaded once more on Colin’s behalf to keep him out of that military school, which would amount to little more than a prison for rich kids. He had no way of knowing, but his pleas had done more harm than good. In his current frame of mind, Wallace was determined to do the exact opposite of what Tony was begging him to do. “Will you please tell him I love him?” he asked weakly.
“I will tell him you left for graduate school,” Wallace answered. “If you really love him as much as you claim, which I seriously doubt, you will get out of his life before you destroy him. And if you really love him, then he shouldn’t need to be told.”
“All right, sir, I’ll go. But before I do, there are some things you need to know. I know you think I’m the scum of the earth, but I do love your son and I’ve come to know him pretty well, and if you love him as much as I think you do you’ll listen to what I have to say. Whether or not you heed it is your choice, but I think you owe it to Colin to at least listen.”

He waited for Wallace to shut him up, but he didn’t. So Tony went on. “I’ve watched your son grow from a little boy to a young man. I’ve also watched as he experienced more rejection in his young life than any boy deserves. He loves you, sir, and that is evidenced very clearly by the tears I’ve seen him shed when you’re never there for the significant events in his life. He is killing himself to make you proud, but he’s slowly giving up. He has told me, and I agree with him, that all you seem to care about is money; he believes that where he is concerned, you think you can solve any issue or problem by throwing more money at it. He has an unbelievable allowance, more clothes than he can ever wear, and more toys and trinkets than he can ever play with. For the past four years he’s had me. I’ve driven him everywhere he wanted to go, spent time with him, attended his sporting events and concerts faithfully. If I thought for one minute that you were now going to fill that role, I would leave gladly because that’s a role you should have been filling all along; but I seriously doubt that anything will change. I don’t know how you propose to get him transported to all his many activities once I’m gone, but I strongly urge you to make some sort of arrangement because that’s all Colin has in life. He’s lost his mother, he never did have you it seems, and now he’s losing the only other human being he’s ever connected with: me! Please, Mr. Frank, don’t take what he’s got left away from him! And if you really love him, please show him not with more money, but with a piece of yourself.”

Wallace didn’t answer, didn’t give any indication that he’d heard at all. He offered to drive Tony to the airport, but Tony declined. “I’ll take a cab,” he said bitterly. “I know how busy you are, and thanks to you I can afford it now, right? I’ll just go pack and I’ll be out of here within the hour.”

By the time Tony got upstairs to his room, he heard Wallace on the phone transferring the money to his bank account. He didn’t want to take the money, but he saw no chance that his refusal would change anything, and he did need that money to get him through graduate school. He was formulating a plan in his mind now, a plan that he didn’t intend to share with Wallace. But then Wallace had also made some decisions that he wasn’t planning to share with Tony.

Tony closed his bedroom door, and then he burst into tears. He was crying for the loss of his little lover, whom he realized now that he loved more than life itself; but he was also crying for Colin. He was terrified what would happen to him now. Would his father heed his words? Or would he just leave Colin to his own resources? Colin was almost 15 now and quite self sufficient, but still, to leave him alone for days, even weeks at a time! Tony knew how devastating that would be because he’d been there. His own parents had both died in a car accident when Tony was in the tenth grade. He had spent the last two years of high school in a foster home, which had served its purpose well enough; but there had been no love, no long term commitment, and young Tony had almost not survived. And now Colin was facing a similar fate, and in his own home. So Tony had his cry, then straightened himself out and packed his things.

Colin came bouncing into the house shortly after noon, laden down with awards, trophies and other school memorabilia. He had finished the year with straight A’s, had received recognition for all his sporting and classical ventures, and of course there was his “Student of the Year” trophy which had been on display in the entranceway of the school since it had been presented. “Hi, Dad,” he called cheerfully. “Man, I’m glad you’re home. Wait’ll you see all this stuff! Where’s Tony? I know he’ll wanna see too.”
“Tony’s gone,” Wallace said coldly. “You’re done school for the year?”
“Yeah, Dad. Gone where?” A cold chill descended over Colin when he saw his father’s face. There was no smile, no acknowledgment that Colin was anything or anyone other than some kid who had happened in off the street. Colin knew that whatever had happened had been serious.

“Tony has had to go away,” Wallace said. “I offered him some money to finish grad school on the condition that he stay away from you and he took it. He’s gone, Colin.”
“But why?” Colin said in a flood of tears. “Why did you send him away? What did he do, Dad?”
“I think you know as well as I do what he did, Colin. He’s nothing but a common boy slut, and he was turning you into the same thing. You need to have friends your own age.”
“He didn’t do anything, Dad. All he did was love me and take care of me, and I know even you couldn’t pay him enough to leave without even saying good-bye. What did you do to him, Dad?”
“I didn’t do anything to him. I just made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and he took it. I guess that says something about how much he really loves you. Now what is all this stuff you were so anxious to show me?”
“Nothin’ you’d be interested in. It’s all there on the table if you wanna see it. I’m goin’ to my room.”

Colin heard his father calling after him, but he ignored the calls. He ran up the stairs and into his bedroom, then closed the door and locked it. He looked around hastily, hoping to at least find a note. Finding none, he completely lost it and threw himself on the bed, face down, and flooded his pillow with his tears. He knew that Tony would never have left if he’d had any choice at all, and now he was concerned that his father had done something drastic.

Sunday night, the night before Colin was to begin his training program at the school swimming pool, Wallace had another surprise for him. “You won’t be training this summer,” he informed him. “You’re not going back to Willowcrest next year, so you’re not eligible to train with the school team.”
“Not going back to Willowcrest? Why not?” Colin asked. He could not believe that his father would send him back to public school; he hated the public school system! Or was that his father’s way of punishing him for whatever dastardly deeds he was supposed to have done?

“I’ve made arrangements for you to go to a military school in Virginia. I can’t leave you here alone, and it seems I can’t find anyone I can trust to stay with you. The school is full residential, so you’ll be staying there all the time. You’ll be leaving as soon as we get back from Europe.”
“I’m not going to Europe, an’ I’m not going to any boarding school!” Colin said firmly.
“I’m going to Europe next week,” Wallace said just as firmly. “I’ll be there a month and I can’t leave you home alone that long, so you’ll be coming with me. This is not optional, Colin.”

“You’re damned right it’s not,” Colin said under his breath. He still hadn’t heard from Tony, still had no idea where he’d gone, but he’d much rather face the world alone than to go flitting about the country with his father when he thought Tony might call or send an email note. He didn’t argue any more because he knew there was no use, but he also knew he wasn’t going to Europe. His father was leaving in the morning for New York and would be back the day before they were to leave; but Colin would not be here.

Noon found Colin on the bus, heading for downtown Jacksonville. He had packed a few things - a few changes of clothes, some basic camping equipment like a good knife, a small hatchet and a waterproof container of matches and a Zippo lighter. He knew that his Scout training would come in very handy, should he find himself in the wilderness, and there was a good chance of that. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he was thankful knowing that as long as he stayed in the South he wouldn’t starve. He went directly to his home bank after first stashing his backpack in an alley where he knew it would be safe. He made a large withdrawal, explaining to the teller that his father was out of town again and he was going to be needing a lot of taxi fare to get him from place to place. Everyone at the bank knew him, so he’d had a lot easier time of it than he’d expected. He still had his ATM card and planned to use it to the limit for two days, and then he’d have enough to get him just about any place he wanted to go; but he had no idea where he wanted to go.

********************************

Tony sat in his small apartment in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He didn’t know exactly why he’d chosen UNC, but the school had a good reputation and it was a pleasant town, so he was confident that he could enjoy this place as well as any. He had made his application, but still hadn’t heard if he’d been accepted or not. Meanwhile he was getting ready to use his new laptop computer to send an email. He had guided Colin to some of the more socially acceptable gay websites on several occasions, and he knew that Colin had done some surfing on his own, so he knew there’d be lots of evidence on Colin’s computer if Wallace had cared to look. He reasoned that there would now exist one of two scenarios: either Wallace had snooped or he hadn’t. If he had, either the computer would be completely offline now, or Colin would have secured it to keep his father out. If he hadn’t snooped, then Colin would more than likely have secured it by now anyway, so either way he felt it was safe to send him a note. He wanted desperately to relieve Colin’s broken heart as much as he could, so he started typing.

***********************************

Colin knew he couldn’t stay in Jacksonville, his father was simply too well known there; so he bought a bus ticket for Savannah, Georgia. He wanted to go further, and to a larger city, but he didn’t want to press his luck by trying to go too far in one jump. He might possibly, if he got up enough nerve, take one more hop before his father got back from New York, and then he knew he’d have to stay put wherever he was at that point.

The ride up the coast was, to say the least, boring and uneventful. Colin was traveling light, so he hadn’t brought any of the luxuries like a Walkman or any other electronic entertainment device, nor had he thought to get a magazine or book or anything to read. He really didn’t feel like being entertained anyway, his thoughts returning over and over to Tony and wondering if they would ever meet again. This was such a big country! And perhaps his dad was right. Maybe Tony had decided to cut all ties and get on with his life. But he just couldn’t think that of Tony. Still, he was somewhat angry at him for having left like that, without so much as a hint where he was going or if he would ever call or write.

“Anyone sittin’ here?” a voice said, bringing Colin out of his daydream.
“Uhh well, no,” Colin answered as he looked up into the face of a boy very little older than himself. Without further invitation or conversation, the boy sat down. Colin tried to look at him without appearing to be looking at him. He was a good looking kid, a little bigger than Colin, but at their age that was certainly understandable. Colin’s growth and development still seemed to be on hold, for reasons he didn’t understand. He was somewhat self conscious about his voice, which was still the soprano of a boy ten years old. This kid didn’t have that problem, in fact his golden baritone voice was one of the things that Colin found attractive, and the kid was certainly making good use of it.

“I’m David,” the kid said as he stuck out his hand. “What’s your name?”
“Uhhh... I’m Colin,” he answered as he took the hand and shook it. David had a wonderful grip, and he wasn’t the least anxious to let go. “I’m from Orlando,” David said. “Where you from?”
“Ja... er... Atlanta,” Colin replied nervously.
“Gotcha,” David said knowingly. He knew for sure now that Colin was a runaway, but he didn’t say anything. He knew the drill: don’t tell anyone the true facts, don’t trust anyone, always be on your guard. He also knew this kid was different. He seemed so... so refined; so aware, yet naive. David wondered if Colin was his real name, and decided that it probably was. And he was from Ja-something. Jacksonville? If so, he’d only been on the road a couple of hours.

“I’m from Boston,” David said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I been on my own for two years, kinda got into a pattern now. I spend the winters in Hollywood, Florida, then I go back to Boston for the summer. I’m kinda late gettin’ back there this year ‘cause I had some things I had to take care of in Hollywood an’ they took longer than I had planned. You wanna come with me to Boston?”
“Well, I dunno...” Colin said. He liked this guy, wanted to trust him, but what about Tony? He was pretty sure Tony wouldn’t have gone to Boston. Tony hated the cold weather, and if he was going to settle some place to go to graduate school, he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be Boston.
“You got someplace else you gotta be?” David asked.
“Not exactly...” Colin answered. “But I dunno about Boston...”

David eyed his new friend curiously. He remembered that too. You don’t know where you want to go, you just want to go! But you seem to have a pretty good idea where you DON’T want to go. He took a look around, and there seemed to be no one within earshot who was paying them any attention. They were sitting in the very rear of the bus so no one could come up behind them. Just the same he lowered his voice. “Look,” he said as he laid his hand on Colin’s, which was on Colin’s knee. “I dunno why, but I like you. I know you’re a runaway an’ you’re just startin’ out. I also know that unless someone helps ya, they’ll probably catch up with ya within a week. You gotta trust someone, Colin, so why not me? I won’t lie to ya, an’ I don’t expect anything in return ‘cept your friendship. I could use a friend, and in case you didn’t know, you’re a hell of a good lookin’ guy.

“Like I told ya, I been on my own since I was 13. When my folks got tired of me and had me put in a foster home, I took off. They looked for me for a year or so, then they kinda lost interest. I guess I was lucky ‘cause they really didn’t want to find me anyway. I’m almost 16 now an’ I seen some pretty bad shit. Someone helped me out at first or I wouldn’t have made it. Now it’s my turn, an’ I don’t mind sayin’ I like you, a LOT! I’m not sayin’ we gotta have sex just ‘cause I helped ya, but if you’re so inclined I won’t turn ya down. So whadda ya say? Friends?”

Colin was shocked. This kid had read him like an open book! So if some street kid only a year older than himself could read him, how much more could trained adults figure him out? Even more scary was the realization that Colin hadn’t even realized that this guy had known probably from the start what he was. Colin realized with a shudder that he was out of his element, that he had no idea what he was doing or where he was going. He looked down at the hand that was again extended to him. He desperately needed someone to trust, and David seemed to be the only act in town, at least right now. So he grasped the hand again, this time with tears threatening to well up in his eyes. David saw the tears, the look of desperation, and he knew that he’d found a friend.

Colin told him everything. There was precious little else to do as the bus lumbered along the Interstate, so he went into a great deal of detail, starting when his father had struck it rich and Colin’s life started to slowly fall apart. He told of their fabulous new house and how much he had loved it there, about finding his mother in bed with her ‘doctor,’ then unwittingly squealing on her, resulting in her leaving and not coming back. He told about Tony, about how from the very start he was absolutely in love with him but for over two years had kept those feelings to himself for fear of rejection. He revealed how he finally couldn’t stand it any more and told Tony how he felt, and how Tony had been so thrilled, saying he felt exactly the same. He told about Willowcrest and what a wonderful school it had been, how well he had done there, and how this very day he was supposed to be starting on a training program that would be instrumental in Colin qualifying for the US Olympic team. Then he told about how his father had discovered somehow that he and Tony were lovers, at least in the emotional sense, and how he had canceled the Olympic training, and then the final straw that Colin could simply not accept: that he was being enroled in a military boarding school somewhere in Virginia.

It had taken over two hours to tell his story, and David had hardly said a word the entire time except for the occasional interruption to ask a question here and there. Colin’s life seemed to him to be a dream come true; but as the story unfolded he could see that dream turning into a nightmare. “So this Tony guy,” he said when Colin had finished, “Your dad somehow caught you guys making out, right?”
“We never made out,” Colin said as he started to cry again. “We probably never will now. I wanted to lots of times, but he said he wouldn’t until my voice changed. Why the hell does everyone think of me as a little boy just ‘cause I got a high voice?”
“How old are ya, anyway?” David asked.
“I’ll be 15 next month,” Colin replied.
“An’ you’ve never had sex with anyone? Not anything, not even beatin’ off together?”
“Nope. I wanted Tony to be the first, but... well that’s in the past now.”
“And now you’re tryin’ to find him, right?”
“Not really. I’d like to find him, but I know that’s hopeless. I have no idea where to start looking.”

David sat quietly regarding his new friend. He had lived a life most people could only dream about, and yet he’d found it unbearable. David was used to being unloved; he’d never known the kind of childhood that had been Colin’s life for his first six years, and then again for the most recent four. He was amazed at how devastated he was to have lost something that David had never had in the first place. He wanted to talk more about it, but that had to wait; right now they were coming into Savannah and there were lots of things they had to discuss before they got off the bus.

“First thing you have to know,” he said looking around again to make sure no one could hear them, “don’t tell anyone else your dad is filthy rich. I mean no one!”
“Why not?” Colin wanted to know.
“Cause there’s lots o’ people who would love to shake him down. The people you’re dealin’ with on the streets aren’t the same cream of society you’re used to, Colin. Many of ‘em would just as soon kill ya as not, if they have a reason. There’s lots o’ guys who would kill ya, or just hold ya someplace and try to get some ransom from your dad. So no more tellin’ anyone you got money in your family, ok?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Colin said.

“Second thing,” David said, “I suppose you got lots of money on ya, right?”
“What difference does it make?” Colin said suspiciously. Now he was beginning to have doubts about this guy.
“It makes a big difference. I presume ya don’t wanna lose what money you got, right?”

Colin nodded.

“And unless I miss my guess, you got a big wad stashed someplace, right? And more than likely it’s in your pants pocket.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, you ever heard of pick pockets? You put it all in one place, in a pocket, and someone relieves you of it, and you’re broke! You gotta spread it around, and do it where no one can see ya. How much you got anyway?”
“I dunno, about eight thousand I guess.”

David almost choked. He had never seen that much money all in one place before! He instructed Colin to break it into smaller bundles, then put some in four different pockets, then stash the rest in four different places in his pack. “That’ll do till we get some place outa sight,” he said. “Now I suppose when you bought your ticket you gave your real name, right?”
“Whadda ya think I am, stupid?” Colin said with disgust. “Of course I didn’t!”
“They didn’t ask for id?”
“Nope.”
“You’re lucky. They usually ask for id, and if you’re a kid and you can’t produce id, they call the cops right then and there. But either way, you left a trail they can easily follow. So now we gotta make you disappear.”
“How d’ya do that?”
“I’ll show ya, soon as we get off the bus. But it’s a cinch we can’t stay in Savannah, ‘cause that’s the first place they’ll come lookin.”

To be continued...