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walked past them both and up to her room. A short while later, Charlotte arrived and Ellie went out without a word.
                  “Should we watch television?” This was Charlotte’s standard question. Averell said he had something to do in his room and Sarah answered with “Okay.”
                  The television was turned on and Charlotte would be transfixed for the next few hours. Time for Averell to explore. He first went into his mother’s closet and found the box of papers she kept on a shelf. He had a note pad and as he read he copied information. He didn’t understand what he was looking at, but he plowed through it anyway. There was a paper with his name on it “Averell Swall” and Allen’s name and Ellie’s name. There was another name, “Stelian Lupasco”. And another name “Nadia Lupasco”. None of this made sense to him and he put everything back where he found it. He went back to his room and looked at the notes and wondered. But nothing made sense. He sat in the corner and tried to pronounce the names, “Stelian, Nadia and Lupasco”. It was around nine o’clock when he heard Charlotte bringing Sarah up to bed and he asked her, “Is mom home yet?”
                  “No, probably not for a while yet.”
                  “Okay, I’m a little tired and gonna’ go to bed.”
                  “Okay by me, makes my life easier.”
                  Charlotte finished putting Sarah in bed and hurried down stairs. She was on the phone immediately to a boyfriend and, shortly afterward, there was a knock at the front door. Averell was very much awake and heard the knock and then after a bit they came upstairs and went into Ellie’s bedroom. Then the sound of clothes being discarded and people bouncing on the bed. He quietly went out of his room to the hall and noted that the door to his mother’s room was closed. He got closer and listened. He heard some funny noises, groans and moans and giggles. He went back to his room and crawled out on to the garage roof. His was not the only window to the roof. Next to his window was the bathroom window and then the big bedroom’s window. He looked in and saw Charlotte on the bed with no clothes on and a boy, about Charlotte’s age laying on top of her. He moved suddenly and made a noise.
                  “Sshhh, careful,” cautioned the voice, “careful.”
                  “What was that?” said the boy.
                  “I don’t know” said Charlotte, “a squirrel or something.”
                  Averell crept back to his window and into his room. He closed the screen and straightened the curtains and got back into bed, under the covers. He mumbled, “Safe!, I am safe.” He lay there awake for a while saying “Safe, I’m safe.” After about a half an hour he fell asleep, still hearing the noises in the other room. He woke when he heard the shower running and thought that Ellie had come home. Then he heard Charlotte say to her boyfriend, “Donnie, go downstairs and turn on the TV, I’ll be there in a minute.”
                  “Okay.”He lumbered down the stairs, with his shoes in hand and his hair sticking out in all directions. He was still thinking of the last hour and he smiled as he turned on the television, sat on the couch and tried to straighten his hair. It was a losing effort and Donnie settled for his baseball cap to hold his mop in place. He tucked in his shirt and started to tie his shoes when Charlotte joined him. They were in front of the television when Ellie returned around midnight. She paid Charlotte the usual rate and was about to give the extra ten when Charlotte said, “No, we’re even tonight.” They looked at each other and smiled at the thought. Charlotte ran out to her boyfriend’s car. Ellie thought “she’s sixteen, older than I was when Allen and I first.” She went