THE TWO NEVER DID PLAN the trip to Houston. Julie avoided the topic and Victor, as if reading her mind, entertained her with tales of sneaking into bars and clubs, and playing Johnny Cash hits for drunks. Her favorite story of his was when he first arrived in Rayburn and had to learn what teenage boys were supposed to wear as the Magic Man wore nothing but bathrobes and had no idea what young men wore aside from the metrosexuals in his soap operas. So, Victor had to walk through Republican-voting, Jesus-loving Rayburn in a skin-tight light pink muscle shirt and jeans that cut off his circulation until he could get something loose enough that it allowed him some motion.
At school, after the initial attention was given to Victor, all eyes turned to Julie, the audacious girl who summoned the
