[ He's tough, thank God, because otherwise the nails digging into his arm would really put him out. But there's nothing wrong with a bruise or two. He pastes on a smile, which he figures is just about doable in a "my wife dragged me along to this and I'd rather be playing golf or home playing Follow the Van with our housemaid". It's a little too put on, but around here, he's noticed, most of the smiles are.

That's the thing with these kinds of people. His dad had drummed it in nice and early. If you wanted to find snakes, try a snake-pit. This was a snake pit. Everyone had an agenda, nobody said what they meant, and their bite could be a hell of a lot nastier than it looked at first. Best to stay clear entirely.

Dean gave Gert and her dancing partner a smile as they swung past them, and looked across his arm at Bela again. ]

This party sucks, for the record. For one thing, whoever replaced the bite-sized cheeseburgers with celery needs their head examined.

Go through the plan for me again?