Weather: cloudy

Reading: Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Knitting: experimenting with mosaic knitting bulky yarns on worsted weight

The kidnapping went surprisingly well, in spite of Gregg's prediction. He's been opposed from my first mention of the idea, and only subsided when I convinced him that I only liked adults for sex, and sex is not what I had in mind with a kid. I have definite uses for a kid, but sex isn't one of them. Men are weird that way -- why do they think everything comes down to sex?

Anyway, his offer of help came as somewhat of a surprise. He had been opposed, then he was acquiescent, then last night he actually helped. "What about the karma of the thing?" I asked.

"What about it? This has all been your idea from the beginning and the omnipotent universe knows taht you're a controlling bitch and I coulnd't do anything *but* help you. What if the kid struggles? His kidnapping is inevitable; if I can prevent him being hurt, that will surely make for good karma, not bad."

A good point, one I didn't expect someone of such limited intellect to be able to come up with.

So we went to the mall. This one boy, a likely lad, as the semi-literary cliches would have it, was looking in a window at display of Halloween stuff. I looked around and saw no one trying to get him to hurry along. No parents, no other boys, no girls. I met Gregg's gaze and he nodded slightly. We closed in on the subject.

"What do you think of that one?" I asked, pointing at a rather poorly rendered skull.

"The blood is ridiculous," he said. "Skulls don't bleed. But I do like the Halloween one. There, like in the movie." Gregg and I frowned slightly at each other. Weren't those hopelessly out of date? Were we getting ready to grab a dork? "The movie's old, but it's still cool because the grownups remember the movie and get a laugh out of it. Laughing means more candy."

I relaxed. This kid, if a dork, was a smart dork. Gregg grinned. "If you like it, it's yours."

The kid looked at him sharply. "The teachers say not to take candy from strangers."

I said, "Halloween's all about taking candy from strangers, so it can't be any big deal. Besides, a mask's not candy. Are your parents going to buy you one like that?"

"Hell, no. I was trying to figure out how to get one in the easy way, but see that guy in the plaid shirt? He looks just like everyone else, right?" I made some grunt and glanced at Gregg. He was watching the crowds but obviously listening at the same time. He had that little Gregg glimmer he gets when the old wheels are a'turnin. "He's security. See the way his eyes never stop? He pretends to be looking at the stuff, but he's watching the kids. He keeps looking at me, and I was about to give up. I know he's going to be right there if I go in."

The idea of a security guy noticing us made me nervous,but it also was kind of exciting. The guy wasn't all that big. Gregg could take him in a fair fight. Not that Gregg would fight fair. He's nothing if not a desperado.