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wrapped Michael’s penis in gauze and Michael spent the rest of
     
the weekend either sitting in a chair or walking very slowly with his legs spread apart.
     
Dexter told Brighton that Michael had sprained his ankle. But he told Marion the truth on
     
Saturday morning when they were alone in the kitchen. She laughed so hard she ran
     
cross-legged to the bathroom.
     
On Sunday afternoon, about two hours before Dexter had to take Michael back to
     
the airport, Michael asked to speak to him alone. They went upstairs to the study and
     
Michael sat down very slowly on a brown leather wing chair. He couldn’t move fast
     
because when his underwear rubbed against the cut on his penis, it burned.
     
Dexter sat behind his desk and shrugged his shoulders. “What’s so important?” he
     
asked.
     
Michael frowned. “First, I can’t find my cell phone, all my underwear is missing,
     
and every night I go to bed with the covers pulled up to my neck and I wake up a few
     
hours later freezing because the covers are down around my ankles. There’s something
     
very creepy about this place, and it’s freaking me out, man.”
     
Dexter tilted his head sideways and shrugged his shoulders. “You must have
     
misplaced your underwear and cell phone, and you probably got hot during the night and
     
kicked the covers off yourself.” “Maybe,” Michael said. “But I heard someone whistle, too, last night.”
     
Dexter laughed and waved his arm. “You were probably dreaming, Michael. Is
     
this all you wanted to talk about?”
     
Michael took a deep breath and frowned. “No, there’s something else. I’ve been
     
putting it off all weekend.” He stared down at his shoes and said, “I’m just going to come
     
right out with it.” He took a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders. “We’re broke, baby.
     
The money is gone.”
     
Dexter started. “How can we be broke? That’s impossible.” He had always
     
thought he had enough money to last him the rest of his life. He knew Michael had made
     
a few investments with his money, but nothing too risky.
     
Michael wouldn’t look him in the eye. “Remember that deal I told you about? The
     
deal with Preview Pictures?”
     
“Yes,” Dexter said. He remembered something about investing money in a new
     
motion picture company. But he wasn’t sure how much money Michael was planning to
     
invest. He’d always trusted Michael to handle all their finances and manage his money,
     
and he’d never had to worry about anything.
     
“It all crashed and burned, baby,” Michael said. “The company folded and
     
everyone lost their money.”
     
“How much did you invest?” Dexter asked. His heart began to pound in his ears
     
and his hands felt shaky.
     
Michael lifted his head and looked into his eyes. He shrugged his shoulders and
     
said, “Everything we had, baby. It’s all gone.” He sat forward and lifted his hands, palm
     
up. “But don’t freak out yet. This is why I came here this weekend. I want to get back together, baby. I made a huge mistake when I left you, and I want us to be a family
     
again.”
     
Dexter looked into his eyes. His heart started to race and a lump formed in his
     
throat. He’d waited so long for Michael to say these words. But before he could open his
     
mouth to reply, a floor lamp next to Michael’s chair toppled over and landed in Michael’s
     
lap.
     
Michael jumped up from the chair and pointed to the lamp. “You see,” he shouted.
     
“This is the sort of thing that’s been happening to me all weekend. That lamp tried to kill
     
me.”
     
Dexter wanted to laugh. Michael looked so pathetic, standing there staring at a
     
floor lamp as if it were ready to jump up and smack him in the head. “The lamp is old,
     
Michael. It’s probably not balanced.”
     
Michael looked down at the lamp with raised eyebrows and slowly stepped away
     
from the chair. He crossed to the desk and