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It was a Crumble pow wow, Vanessa Sore, Van Esther Sorfie, and Justin, whose presence was tolerated by his mother and daughter as an unfortunate necessity; they needed someone to put their head over the parapet, and that duty always fell to the men in the family. They hoped it would not be fatal just now, the timing being a little inconvenient, but needs must, and if it did prove to be ill-fated, so be it. Vanessa could work with Van Esther, she was almost there and soon after the marriage with Fritz, there would be children: a sacrificial boy and hopefully a girl heir. Van Esther had a male cousin being educated, so to speak, and he could step in if the situation demanded it. He was suitably malleable. In other words, a dozy, silver-spooned buffoon.
They met as they always did, in th
