He had become accustomed to sharing the room and bed with his friend. Even when Vincent did not come back until the early morning hours he always knew that he would be back. They had talked about things and Santiago felt he could discuss almost anything with Vincent. And he liked that the boy did not belittle him for his lack of sophistication as other boys did. When McIntyre had announced that Vincent was to go to work for Belle, he had seemed almost happy with being given one day to get his things together and move to his new location. Santiago wondered if they would see each other. In the five weeks they had been friends and that he had been working for McIntyre, he had seen a number of boys come and go. Some did not work well and were moved elsewhere and some ran away when they found that more was expected of them than what they had thought. Occasionally a boy would return from an appointment and beg McIntyre to choose his clients more carefully after showing the marks of perversity they had been forced to endure.
