CHAPTER 13: PLOTS & PRANKS
Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest . . .
—Alexander Pope
DOC’S MANUSCRIPT
New Orleans, December 18, 1987
Ted and the other boys cast as shepherds sauntered into the Burger Shack. They still
wore the jeans and sweatshirts worn at the rehearsal, but their hair was now carefully
combed and anointed with gels and oils advertised to be irresistible to nubile females.
Although the ads were silent on what else might be attracted, the fruit flies that
formed a permanent part of the Burger Shack décor were not immune to the lure. A
haze of flies buzzed about their heads.
A quick sniff would have detected a variety of scents: cheap cologne here, father’s
aftershave there, and occasionally a combination of odors in un
