"I'm not living in Alderney, Michael, and that's that!" Amanda was red in the face. She didn't want to live in that state.

"Alderney City, Berchem, Leftwood, Westdyke, all of them are options Amanda. Living in the city causes problems for all of us."

"NO, Michael, it causes problems for you. You're the one who kills people and then sits around feeling guilty about it. You just want the silence, but that's not going to happen. You are going to buy this suite. You are going to keep it and be happy."

"Don't you fucking tell me how to feel," Michael's eyes looked murder.

"How fucking ironic Michael. Back in '03 when all this shit started you told me to be happy. 'We're going to live in the sunshine,' you said. 'No more snow,' you said. Then what the fuck is this. Liberty City. It's hot as hell here during the summer. It's cold as Yankton here during the winter. This city's full of assholes, bums, cheats, and degenerates." Her voice went up an octave toward the end of that spiel. Jimmy and Tracey were having a harder time ignoring the yelling.

"It wasn't my decision to come here. Lester made that call. This was the safest place. We blend right in here. We can stay in this city. We can build something new here. We have the money for it now. We started off in trailers Amanda, fuckin' trailers in the Midwest and now we're in the city that never sleeps there so much we can do here."

"My point exactly, Michael. That's why I want to stay right here in Algonquin. Leave Alderney to D'Alderney and all those sad people. You don't want to deal with all of the bikers." She stopped yelling.

"Alright, fine. We can live here. I guess it's closer to the Exchange anyway. By the way most of those bikers transplanted to Trevor's neck of the woods back a few years ago. They're probably dead too. I guess we'll live here." Michael conceded. There were two theories to arguing with women, and neither of them worked. That was in a western movie, 'Marston of West Elizabeth'.

"Right, Mike. We can go see a show on Burlesque anytime we want to."

"How about going tomorrow night? I think maybe 'Red Dead Redemption' is a good one." He was trying to patch things up. Fighting was exhausting.

Trevor's phone rang in the middle of the night. It was 1:44 AM to be precise. He and Wade were lying in the bed. Wade was asleep, lying on his stomach. To Trevor, Wade had earned his ice cream and hotdog. Wade had taken what Trevor presented to him like a champ. Let's just say that Wade wouldn't be able to sit comfortably for a while on account of the hotel shampoo bottles. No time to think about that. The number had an L.S. area code.

"Hello," Trevor's face was visibly scrunched up as he said the simple word.

"It's your mother, Trevor." She sounded angry through that strange accent she acquired after a stroke.

"Mother, how are you making this call?" He was shocked that she was still in San Andreas. He thought that she had gone to the mainland. At least that's what the note said.

"On a phone, you stupid shit of a boy," she said angrily.

"Do you want me to come and get you?"

"No, your father will come and get me."

"What? You stabbed Poppa to death. That's not possible." He was starting to hyperventilate. Wade was stirring because of the vibrations on the mattress.

"He's right here, you fucking failure." As she said this the sound of the phone passing through air could be heard. "Hey it's your Poppa and I'm fucking your mama real good."

Trevor dropped his phone and was screaming. Then he felt like he was being shaken. It was a big earthquake. He couldn't escape this one. He opened his eyes and Wade was leaning above him. Wade was shirtless and wearing nothing on his lower half either. Trevor realized he was in a different position than he thought. He was on his side, the same position he slept in. Wade lifted him up. They were inches apart.

"You was having a bad dream Trev-" Wade reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a tissue. He needed to wipe a tear away from Trevor's cheek. "We all get nightmares sometimes, Trevor. All we needs is friends to make us feel better." Wade hugged Trevor hard. Like a friend, like a brother would hug the long lost sibling.

Trevor sobbed. Wade was absolute. They stayed like that till the sun rose at 5:30. Trevor didn't realize Wade was capable of such deep compassion.

Lester came back into his hotel room. He was hungover. The rum-pum-pum of his head was painful to say the least. He'd been bar hopping. Purgatory and Star Junction both had some fun places to pick up lady friends. He would just sit and let them dance around him. One in particular, a blond, performed a striptease for his pleasure. Yes, a striptease in the middle of a night club. She ended up in only a bra and panties. She went outside in only the panties, toplessness being perfectly legal in Algonquin County and the entire city. He even went to Split Sides to get a laugh. Thank God there were taxies everywhere in this city. He got upstairs took a couple of aspirin and went to sleep. Life was going to be one big party from now on.

Shit, this hangover was the worst.

Lamar woke up in his room. Because he slept on his back, the first sight that greeted him was the ceiling of his room. He gasped. It didn't look familiar.

"Oh, shit. I forgot I was in the Majestic."

He got up and winced as he did so. He looked at his calf. A big, purple contusion stained his left leg. That's where the guard had placed his knee to subdue him. After he took his shower, Lamar turned on the television.

WEAZEL NEWS

The state of San Andreas is still Underwater. It is expected that the land won't be cleared for many, many months. We spoke to some Libertonians about the tragedy.

"After the storm here and the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in San Andreas, both of America's best cities have both been attacked by the biggest terrorist we've got, Mother Nature. I think it's time to strengthen the Jingoism Act."

Others are glad about it.

"This country had too many people anyway. Now we can move on."

No matter what the word on the street is, the disaster will have some economic drawbacks. Vinewood is nonexistent right now. A third of our crops grow in that region. Other states, New Austin and West Elizabeth in particular, and Nuevo Paraiso, Mexico are clamoring to make up for the loss. We can all expect to see the prices of food to go up. Be prepared for exorbitant rates on everything. Supermarkets in the area may soon be empty.

- Mike Whitley WEAZEL NEWS

Lamar turned the television off. He felt bad for all those people in the hood who were probably now floating on the Pacific Ocean. Franklin was here. He's the only one that mattered. When he heard that the big one hit, Franklin, his best friend was the only one he cared about. Franklin was there for him even if he was mercurial, downright bipolar at times. But that was all he had. He would have to find a place to live. He couldn't stay in this hotel forever.

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