SISTERS "Keeping things together wasn't supposed to be this hard."

She was going to be nice and ask him to sit down and visit, but now that she was actually confronted with Johnny Two Bears and his companion, Rama changed her mind. The teen-age redhead encircled by his powerful arm looked like a pretty little jungle bird about to be swallowed by a boa. Rama smelled liquor, realized Johnny and his young tufted-cockatiel were tipsy, thought the whole thing reeked of debauchery.

Johnny, on the other hand, was looking around expectantly, waiting, perhaps, for the dancing girls, the rose petals to be scattered before him, the decanter of wine and the bong with a fat bowl of kind buds. In other words, the customary flattery and adulation.

Rama wouldn’t bite. "Well … good then. Thanks. I’m sure the guys will call you soon."

He caught on to her, and a cloud crossed his face. "Oh, yeah, you can count on it," Johnny said.

                                                                                                                 
-- from "Sisters," by Craig Pugh