Osmund went so far as to flirt with the woman, make her smile while he paid. Not enough to really be remembered; she might call him nice or a bit of a nerd, and recall he made her laugh. He pushed usual limits because he was restless. â€œOf course Si,â€ he referred Simon as casually as he knew how, giving the appearance that heâ€™d known the kid forever.<br/><br/>He wouldnâ€™t have minded if Simon had wanted to ask him endless questions about his home. There was little atypical about it. Most of the way there, he was quiet, watching the road and letting the kid mull over what his night had been like. Oz still didnâ€™t really know what Simon thought of him. He had been planning on killing the kid. Not out of any spite, but because he thought he would have to.<br/><br/>Maybe not so surprisingly, he lived in a modest, middle-income neighborhood where families raised children. There was nothing special about the little, one-floored, white sided house. It had a garage attached â€“ there was enough space to park, the rest was taken up by a neatly maintained work area.<br/><br/>Behind the fence was a hound-ish looking mutt. He had bought it specifically to bark, so it had a good fierce one, but he didnâ€™t have the patience to train a guard dog, so it only wagged its long tail when there were no strangers.<br/><br/>On the way, heâ€™d come to a decision. â€œYouâ€™ll still have to go to school, but not here anymore.â€ Heâ€™d figure something out until then. There were quite a few things to be figured out, werenâ€™t there? It was something he could focus on to stall the restlessness.<br/><br/>The inside was as meticulously clean and ordered as the garage. A good bit of the wall space was covered in bookcases, shelving books on all manner of subjects, most of them technical, philosophical, or religious. The rare fiction books were of the same type â€“ cheap romantic drivel that could be found for a few cents.<br/><br/>There was a TV and computer desk both jammed into the living room, because he used the â€˜family roomâ€™ for more delicate repair jobs. Off that back room were two bedrooms â€“ between was a tiny galley kitchen â€“ his and one heâ€™d never used for much. Right now, there was a dog kennel, dog dishes, and an old couch.<br/><br/>Oz remembered there was an unfinished bed frame among the other things heâ€™d wanted to get around to fixing up and selling. It would do and he could find a mattressâ€¦