After, she curled up next to her naked, half dazed father and kissed him.

"Good morning, Daddy," she said again with just as big a smile as when she said it the first time. "Are you gonna drive me to school today?"

VIII

Arnold Franklin stood up and extended his hand to shake when Roman was shown into his office by the secretary. He seemed average in every way, neither short nor tall, thin nor fat, handsome nor ugly. A pair of glasses in thick, black frames sat halfway down his nose as he gave his visiting parent a perfunctory smile.

But Roman ignored Franklin's hand and sat down in...