"You're still going through with it?"

"Yes, Moz. Nothing's changed."

"You're crazy man?" Moz looked at his young friend shaking his head. "You have no sense of consequence. You're really outdoing yourself this time Neal."

Neal leaned back on his deck chair and readjusted his pillow. He had less than a week to work on his suntan. Mozzie walked inside to his room and returned minutes later with a new CD. He slipped it into the player. Peter, Paul and Mary filled the air, complimenting the ten million dollar view from June's terrace. Life was sweet. And Mozzie had adjusted to the sweet life easier than he ever thought possible. June had kindly offered the spare bedroom to the homeless boy not long after the Burke Wedding late last year. Mozzie and June had bonded over time, mostly during Friday lunches when Neal had been coming around regularly with Satchmo. After Neal started school, Mozzie continue to visit and even went so far as to start an 'exclusive' book club with the generous widow. The charming young man also helped June out around the house with odd chores and would take Bugsy for a walk most afternoons. At some point, Mozzie became a permanent fixture at June's and when the older woman asked him if he would like to move in officially, it was more of a simple continuation of what was already happening.

The sun had shifted position and Mozzie readjusted his chair before he sat back down.

Neal laughed at the sight of his friend going to all manner of trouble to avoid the sun's rays. "You're paranoid Moz. A little bit of sun isn't going to kill you." Neal rolled over on his stomach to get a little vitamin D on his back. He was wearing brightly coloured board shorts which the teenager had been forced to explain on his way in. Peter had bought them for him when he realised his son didn't own any shorts. Mozzie told the boy he was incredibly brave and bold to walk around NYC in something so tacky. Neal clarified by saying he'd got changed in the downstairs bathroom before heading up.

"Don't be so sure my young naïve sun baker. You have no idea what lying out in the open without any sun protection is doing to your tender adolescent skin. It's the middle of the day, the worst possible time for ultra violet rays."

"Geez man. You sound like an old woman. Get a grip of yourself."

"Hello, you boys thirsty?" June walked through from Mozzie's room carrying a tray with two ice-cream sodas."

Both boys sat up and took the mouth-watering drinks from the kindly widow.

"Thank you, June."

"Thanks, June."

"You're welcome." June headed back to the house when she suddenly had a thought.

"Neal. Please tell me you're not sitting out in the full sun without so much as a smidgin of sunscreen."

Neal almost spat out his first mouthful of drink and dared not look at his friend. "It's okay June. I won't be out here long. Plus, it's finally spring. I want to get my tan off to a great start."

"I'll get you some sunscreen." She walked off.

"Unreal Moz. You two punched out of the same dye lot or something. I'm not going to bother with sunscreen and June's not going to make me."

"Excuse me?" Neal grimaced when he heard what was sure to be a sun lotion bottle hitting the terrace table.

Neal looked over feeling more than a little embarrassed. "Ah…nothing June."

"We're you just being disrespectful, young man."

Neal hesitated but gave in quickly under the stern glare of the older woman. "Yes, ma'am."

June pointed at the space in front her feet. "Come here."

Neal shot a glance at his friend and reluctantly hopped up and walked over to the older lady. He cringed at the thought of what was about to happen. And in front of Mozzie no less. As expected, June turned him sideways and delivered two very firm swats to his backside. "You know better, young man. Now, put on the sunscreen or we'll discuss the matter further."

"Yes ma'am." Neal picked up the sunscreen bottle and began to apply it to his arms and legs without hesitation. He collected his shirt and slipped it back over his head. After he was certain June had departed, he turned to Mozzie to pre-empt any teasing. "Don't you dare say a word!"

Mozzie smiled and had a half-hearted attempt to hold back the laugher trying to escape his lips.

Neal knew it so he challenged, "Besides, its not like June hasn't whacked your butt several times since you moved in here."

"That's not true," the older kid became defensive. "I wouldn't say several!"

Neal gave his friend a stare and climbed back onto his deck chair to resume devouring his ice-cream soda. "So what else would I need?"

"Apart from a therapist?"

"Funny."

"Okay, so you've got a driver," Mozzie looked his young friend up and down, "And just as well because, can you even see over the dash?" Neal simply glared. "Are you sure about this Garry, Neal? He seems very questionable."

"Stop being paranoid. Garry's going to be perfect."

"If you say so." Mozzie put down his empty glass. "He'll solve the problem of you rocking up on your own. Under-aged visitors need to be accompanied by an adult. So Garry's your new guardian. Better get his last name if he's going to be related." Neal nodded and took a final slurp of his drink. "It's more than a two hour drive. Add that to the time you'll need for the visit and you're looking at a full day. If you go on a Thursday, you don't have to worry that you'll be missed."

"Yeah. I thought maybe a week from tomorrow."

"Okay, so you'll have to get started on the ID. You'll need a fairly current photo of Kate."

-W-C-

"So Mozzie supported your plan, Neal?"

"Yes Janice. He thought the plan was brilliant."

-W-C-

"What do you think?"

Thursday morning and the two scammers sat perched on the gutter across from the Burke residence. They waved innocently to Peter and El as the older couple headed off to work in the Taurus. Every Thursday, Peter gave his wife a lift to work, leaving his mom's Beetle to waste away outside the house for the day.

"I don't know Neal. It just all seems like a very bad idea."

"No I meant the car." Neal pointed at his mom's VW before turning to glare at his friend. "Why are you so against me with this? First Jerry, and of course Dad who's against it even though he doesn't know what's going on, now you."

"What do you mean? There are others that think this is by far the most ludicrous thing you've ever done?"

"It's a perfect plan, Moz. Don't be so damn cynical."

"Neal, you're going to steal your mother's car, hire a very suspect character to drive you north, to see a girl your parents never want you to have contact with again, and help her break out of a juvenile detention centre. Now if you don't think that's one hell of a crazy ass idea then you've spent too long in show biz."

"Whatever. Now I have one week to get a message to Kate and clue her in as well as registering our visit on the centre data base and finalizing Kate's visitor ID badge. There's a lot of work to do Moz so are you on board or not?"

-W-C-

"So Mozzie did try and talk you out of it."

"Not really. Mozzie just likes to think he is the voice of reason."

"Someone has to play the grown-up, Neal… Would you consider Kate to be grown-up?"

"Is my time up?" Neal looked at his watch and groaned, still ten more minutes. He sighed "I am really tired of answering your repetitive questions Janice. If you ask me one more time how I broke my wrist I think I'm going to throw up."

"Well since you brought it up, how did you break your wrist Neal?"

"Damn it, Janice! Why do you keep asking me that?" Neal picked up a cushion off the couch and threw it against the far wall. He would have done more, but he didn't want to risk breaking something.

"Because you still haven't given me an answer." Janice ignored the mini-tantrum.

"I've given you lots of answers." Neal pleaded.

"No, Neal, you've given me stories." Janice's voice remained level and calm amidst the emotions emanating from the young boy. "I want you to tell me how you broke your wrist."

"I didn't break my wrist, Janice!" He punctuated his response by slamming the cast down onto the back of the couch. This time it hit with a crunch and Neal immediately retracted the wrist to cradle it against his chest. Yes, that would have been quite painful. "I wasn't the one who broke it, Janice."

"Then who did, Neal?"

It was spoken quietly, but Janice heard it anyway, "My dad, Peter."