<strong>Desdemona back home</strong><br/><br/>Desdemona looked on as her uncle walked away and mingled amongst the parishioners. It seemed like Henry Pratz was always in campaign mode, no matter how far away the elections were. It was probably what had allowed him to have such a firm grasp on the Town Hall for so long. Robert Pratz had no such burdens in terms of keeping up appearances. After a few cordial yet short greetings with some of the town’s elite, the three of them soon made off towards their car. Desdemona half-listened to her mother’s complaints about mrs. Pratz. It was a ritual that was as much part of her Sunday as church itself.<br/><br/>Desdemona felt relieved to be back home and quickly retreated to her bedroom. She felt desperately bored. In fact, the only times she didn’t feel bored in New Harrisville was when she was at the Gulch. But she could not go there now. It wasn’t open, and even if it was, she had to watch out that she didn’t spend too much time there… Her father might not suspect what she was really up to, but if she disappeared for entire days, he would eventually find out. She was already tempting fate enough by going there when her uncle was in attendance.<br/><br/>She could go to the small mall two towns over, but that place bored her more than her parents’ mansion did. Not to mention that they rarely had anything she was interested in purchasing. Instead she checked her email and found a couple of mails from her former sorority sisters. Still, her link with her pledge sisters was becoming increasingly flimsy. Where a dozen girls had emailed her a couple of times a week when she first dropped out, now only three or four remained in touch with her, and the stream of emails had slowed to a frequency of one or two a week. There was a twinge of regret at her failed university career, not in terms of her academic development but the lifestyle. She was smart enough to at least get passing grades had she committed herself a little bit. Unfortunately the realization that she was throwing her cushy life away had only come after her father had cut off the money stream and refused to pay for any more tuition.<br/>