L'islam entre aujourd'hui dans la littérature française. Après la gauche caviar, l'islam champagne. La crise des banlieues, c'est fini. Vive la France à nouveau amoureuse. Si Dieu est mort à Wannsee le 20 janvier 1942 (Jack-Alain Léger), il est ressucité le 6 août 1945 à Hiroshima (moi, d'après Tarkovsky, grâce à ARTE). C'est dans Paul Celan que nous comprennons Mahmoud Darwich. C'est poétiquement que l'homme habite le monde (Hölderlin, grâce à Jack-Alain Léger, désormais J.-A. L.). J'ai démontré par A+B dans une thèse à paraître que le gazal (ghazal) donne naissance à la lyrique européenne (thèse refusée évidemment à L'Université de Genève le mois de février de 2007 après une agonie de trois ans, par M. Charles Genequand, M. Carlos Alvar et M. Jenaro Talens, sans grande discussion). Je démontre à présent que l'islamisation de la France est le fait culturel majeur de notre temps. C'est une nouvelle révolution. Malgré l'opposition de Philippe de Villiers et de J.-A. L., la France devient musulmane. Alhamdulillah. Il était temps de trouver la sortie, souvenez-vous, "Où est la sortie?" de Camille de Toledo dans Archimondain, jolipunk. C'est une sortie naturelle, riche et puissante. Les lumières se croisent, se mélangent et se multiplient librement. Le siècle des Ténèbres (J.-A. L.) est fini. Guillaume Dustan a écrit son Dernier roman. La maison n'est pas plus abandonnée que la Palestine en 48, mais nous ne sommes pas plus pudiques que les militants de l'Haganah. Nous n'avons pas besoin d'une fatwa, comme le héros de Y.B. dans Allah superstar, pour percer dans les sphères littéraires. Nous avons l'illusion. Nous, en 2008, sommes toujours dans la conquête:

Au nom de l'Autre, Amant, d'amour aimant (1)
L'homme du lilas, tuteur des dimensions (2)
L'amant, l'amoureux (3)
Ma ligue du voyage au nid maternel (4)
Je t'aime et je te désire (5)
Montre-moi l'orthodoxie (6)
L'orthodoxie des Anciens, qui étaient heureux et qui ne cherchaient pas (7)

Nous, en 2008, sommes toujours dans le Jihad. Le Jihad du genre, formulé par Abdennur Prado et Ndeye Andújar en 2005, lors du Premier Congrès International de Féminisme Islamique, à Barcelone. En 2006, j'étais présent pour la deuxième édition. Je loue encore les instants de plaisir avec Saïda, journaliste de France Culture. Ainsi c'est avec Alain Finkielkraut que je filtrais, par amour interposé. C'est que déjà l'Amour était fini, il n'y avait plus qu'une possibilité d'amour. D'une île. Maintenant mon amour est pour la France entière. Comme Julio Cortázar, je serai chevalier d'honneur. Comme Fadela Amara. Ou Abdelwahab Meddeb ou Leïla Babès ou Soheib Bencheikh ou Malek Chebel ou Mohammed Arkoun ou Abdennour Bidar ou Tariq Ramadan ou Paul Smaïl, alias J.-A. L., chez Sindbad/Actes Sud ou chez oumma.com ou chez Les Indigènes de la République ou chez les "ex-Ni putes ni soumises" ou chez Gallimard ou chez Ce soir ou jamais, de Frédéric Taddeï.Ou chez ARTE ou Al JAZIRA. Nous, en 2008, voulons toujours la cité préferée pour demeure et le pouvoir démocratique dans les urnes. Mon parti, certains le sauront déjà, est la DSI, la Dogmatique Situationniste Islamiste. Je veux un islamiste pour fils. L'islam est amour et paix. Nous sommes issus d'un peuple qui oublie Debord.

Every once in a while you come across one of those novels – you know, you have twenty or thirty pages left and you sit there thinking ”okay, so how are you going to tie all this together and show me something in thirty pages?”. Usually what you get is the most common, garden variety textbook ending. But every once in a while, and this really doesn’t happen very often, you get a book that really delivers.

Houellebecq’s The Elementary Particles (1998) does.

In the last flickering breath of the book in the form of an epilogue it changes the entire parameters of the novel. It brings home content, action and characters. It redefines and salts the action. It gives your head a nice spin. Throughout the novel I had moments of thinking “this is all good and well, but where is this all going?” and I am weary of that feeling, because quite often the novel just peters out in dull disappointment. Not this time.

Houellebecq writes in a heavily intellectual tradition and comparisons are often drawn to Camus, Beckett, Huxley et al. There are moments when you feel the legacy of the alienation literature, maybe in this novel especially in the description of sex. The sex scenes come across as descriptively explicit, but basically void of any emotion, any quality of excitement. They remain in the mind as descriptions of the hopelessness of physical solace in a world where there can be no real connection between individuals. It seems rare and cold and pointless until you get to that little gem of an epilogue.

The Elementary Particles is a story of two half-brothers Bruno and Michel. Bruno describes his childhood at different boarding schools where he is put through all kinds of abuse from older students and eventually grows up to be a teacher. Michel is raised by his grandmother and is a quiet introvert sort of boy who eventually becomes a molecular biologist. Both of them are failures at the whole human connection thing, but both of them meet what can be described as the love of their respective lives. Their stories do not end well. How could they? This is not that kind of novel – that is not to say that there is any great tragedy either, just life doing what it does. The irony is not lost on the characters either and at one point Michel says: “You can look at life ironically for years, maybe decades; there are people who seem to go through most of their lives seeing the funny side, but in the end, life always breaks you heart. Doesn’t matter how brave you are, or how much you’ve developed a sense of humour, you still end up with your heart broken. That’s when you stop laughing. In the end there is just the cold, the silence and the loneliness. In the end there is only death.”

There’s a heavy strain of mortality salience throughout the entire story, but more than that and the sense that the writer knows clinical depression well, there is the sense of loss and distance that can only come from the awareness that materialism has crept into human relationships in such a way that there can never be any true sense of selfless love unless we first get rid of the materialistic individuality of our culture. Sick. Wrong. Funny at times. And beautifully done.

Read it.

Read it even if you don’t get the point until you’re on the last page. Read it even if you get a bit nauseated at times. Read it even if it makes you laugh and then choke on you laughter. It’s good for you.

Mule

by Roger Zelazny

The Amber cycle, Zelazny's magnus opus. It's the old story of chaos versus order, combined with a hefty dose of parallel/alternate worldlines. Zelazny was a master when it came to mixing seemingly disparate elements of fantasy and science fiction into a coherent whole. While some people prefer his more serious stuff, like Lord of Light, I do not. The Amber chronicles have a special place in my heart, my gateway to Zelazny's work in general. Even after reading them a second time now, years later, they haven't lost their appeal to me. Well, the first five books that chronicle Corwin's adventures.

The later books that chronicle the adventures of his son, Merlin, are of lesser quality. The writing is superb as always, but the plotting leaves something to be desired. Like the Corwin chronicles there's a cornucopia of fantastic ideas, but what's missing is the grand concept, the metaplot that connects all these ideas into something wholly. It's just a rehash of the adventures of Corwin with bigger magic but less coherence, as if Zelazny himself wasn't sure where he was going with it, introducing new plot elements and story twists until it looked like a mess. At the end it's just the old chaos versus order plot again. Which is a disappointment, since Corwin himself created a third pattern at the end of his adventures, that could have changed the duality of the chaos versus order conflict and created something much more complex. Instead you get more of the same.

But the first five books are great, some of the best fantasy I've ever read, more imaginative and inventive than most of the recent stuff about which has been said to have reinvented fantasy.

Rating: 5/5

Nine Princes in Amber (1970)
The Guns of Avalon (1972)
Sign of the Unicorn (1975)
The Hand of Oberon (1976)
The Courts of Chaos (1978)

Rating: 3/5

Trumps of Doom (1985)
Blood of Amber (1986)
Sign of Chaos (1987)
Knight of Shadows (1989)
Prince of Chaos (1991)

The Peel Sessions

This is not literary genius, far from it.  Most would argue that it is an anorak's notebook and that would be very close to the truth.  But, you know what.  It's great.  It proves that Peel, and his army of producers, most notably John Walters, were demi-gods and men of much greatness that transformed the lives of the bands they broke and their many dedicated listeners (self included).

It's also a cornucopia of facts.  The headliner being.  Which band did the most Peel Sessions?  The answer is, of course, The Fall with 24.

Yes, 24!

He liked them then...

Truly the world is depleted without him.

It was a slow year for me. I can't have read more than a dozen books in all, but very few duffers came my way, indeed I think the Mrs may have out-read me and will no doubt post her own best-of by close of play today.

However many of the best books I read were recommended by Ian Dommett, so he goes to the top of my critics list.

In no particular order my favourite reads of the year were.

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood.

In truth this probably wins by a nose. The fact that it was written in 1985 is a strength as it shows off her perceptiveness even better than if one read it at the time of its release. Is it her best book? Hard to say as she is such a brilliant writer, but it certainly sits alongside Oryx and Crake, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace and he Blind Assassin. All magnificent.

You'll find my full review here if you are interested.

Then We came to The End by Joshua Ferris

I predict this will be a monster in paperback. It's been on many year end lists this year and so should get the reviews it deserves when it comes out in PB in 2008. I think it's slated for a movie too, although the mystery that is implicit in its writing will probably be diluted on screen. I reviewed it here.

The Damned Utd byDavid Peace

My all time favourite sports book. It's a novel but reads like a Biography od Brian Clough in his 43 days as manager of Leeds Utd. Not a happy experience. It is frightening how out of control Cloughie was. So good was it that I asked for, and recieved, "provided you don't Kiss me, 20 Years with Brian Clough" for my Christmas. I'm really looking forward to that. Anyway I reviewed David Peace here. Highly recommended.

An Occurance at Owl Creek by Ambrose Bierce

It's just a short story but it's packed with drama and a brilliant twist.  Read more here.

 The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides

I was blown away by this.  Far superior (aren't they all) to the movie; it gets right under your skin in a very odd way.  But he's a very odd writer.  My mother read this and his other masterpiece, Middlesex, on my recommendation and loved both of them.  More here.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

This is an interesting but overwritten and ultimately pompous diatribe against the existence of God.  Nevertheless, until he starts getting overly political about it all it is a very interesting essay and worthy of reading for anyone who has any interest in the existence of god(s).  Read more here.

 Auchwitz by Laurence Rees

I was gripped by this book and I also liked the BBC Drama later in the year that depicted the liberation of Auchwitz.  Not by the same writer.

It's a detailed account of the concept behind Auchwitz and throws the net of Nazi guilt far wider than Hitler.  Well written and absorbing it is, despite its gruesome content, a compelling read. 

 On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Great, but not his greatest.  I wrote an overly glowing review of this on completion, but, in hindsight, it's a bit style over content.  Still beats most of the muck that gets published though.

Agent Zig Zag by Ben Macintyre

If this was a novel it would be rejected on grounds of ludicracy.  It is in fact, the true life account of an English Double agent who crossed sides more often than Michael Stewart.  It's real boys own stuff and a splendid read.  What ho!

 The group laughed and chattered as they walked through the mall, each of them carrying bags of clothing.  Simon walked in the midst of the small crowd with a small smile, seemingly happy to have brought them so much joy.  They wandered past an HMV store, and Evan broke away from the group.

            "Hey, Mr. Lamb, are we in any kind of a rush?"

            "Not at all, Evan, why do you ask?"

            "Well, it's just that I lost all my CDs on the plane.  I was wondering if I could check out some of the albums in the store?  I just want to see what's come out while we were gone, and then we can get back to the limo."

            Lamb grinned.  "Be my guest.  Perhaps you'll be able to explain young people's music to an old fart like me."

            Evan smiled broadly and dashed into the store.  The rest of the group followed, willing to kill some time.  They spread out into different sections.  Dan headed to the hip hop area, while Jason peeked through the gospel music.  Genevieve wandered aimlessly, staring at the movie selection and wondering why a music store carried films.  Alex and Neal argued over whose favourite rock band was better.

            Evan was at the back, listening to song selections on headphones.  Lamb wandered close to see what the youth was enjoying.  He was startled when Evan started to sing along.  His voice was clear and melodic, and had a ripple effect.  First Simon stopped to listen, and then a pair of girls further down the same aisle.  His voice reached Neal and Alex, and they stopped their disagreement to listen.  Soon, the whole store was listening to Evan sing. 

            His eyes were closed, so when he stopped and hung the headphones back up, he was startled to find a store full of people staring at him.

            "What?  Did I fart?"

            Dan burst out laughing, but Lamb ignored the comment.

            "Evan, that was wonderful.  I may not know a lot about music, but you have real talent.  Why didn't you tell me you were such an amazing singer?"

            Evan shrugged.  "Oh, I'm nothing special."

            "I beg to disagree.  Do you have any other talents?"

            "Well, I used to play guitar in a band with the others."

            "Why do you say ‘used to?' When did you stop?"  Lamb asked.

            "Well, I didn't stop, exactly.  I lost my guitar on the mountain, I guess.  Kind of hard to play without one."

            "I think we're going to have to go instrument shopping, then."  Simon smiled, clapping an arm around the younger man's shoulders.  "You say the others play as well?"

            "Sure.  Dan loves the drums, Alex plays guitar too.  Owen is great on bass."

            Genevieve turned to Jason while their host discussed music with Evan.  She whispered quietly.

            "I think he's lying.  Mr. Lamb has to know something about music.  He owns part of two major record labels, alongside his production company and oil shares."

            "Eve, knowing music and owning a company are two very different things."  Jason looked at their friends.  "Besides, he's trying to be nice.  I know Evan misses his music."

            "But why exactly does he have to buy all this stuff for us?  It's not like we're family."

            "No, but he doesn't have a family of his own, either.   Can't he just be a rich, lonely guy who wants to help a bunch of kids who are stranded far from home?  We're lucky to be alive, why look a gift horse in the mouth?"

            "Seriously, who even says stuff like that anymore?  ‘Gift horse.'  This isn't Trojan, or anything."  Genevieve glared at her friend.

            "Troy.  At least you got it half right.  I didn't think you were paying attention in history class last year."

            "You're one to talk," Eve laughed, swatting his arm.  "You slept through it!"

With the close of 2007 marking the end of the first full month of the 'cultnation',  I thought it would be a good exercise to review the 5 most viewed entries during the period.

#1  100 Books...

While a page more than a blog entry, the '100 Books...' list drew by far the largest number of page views during the month.  I have big plans for this entry (and it's associated project) so I'm glad fellow bloggers and general surfers have found it interesting to date.

#2  New Music, 12th December 2007

Maybe I didn't realise just how popular searching for 'new music' was on the net, as this entry also drew a large number of page views.  It was pointed out to me by one of my readers that a little more information regarding each of the releases (and maybe the album covers) would be a good inclusion...I've taken note and my next entry which I should be posting this evening will be a little more detailed.

#3  The 'Baroque Cycle', Neal Stephenson (100 Books...)

Of all the title specific entries made in December regarding books, it was Neal Stephenson's epic 'Baroque Cycle that proved the most popular.  Hopefully, I interested a few readers enough that they will pick up this series.

#4  New Album...Burial - Untrue

A brief entry, but a popular one.  In short, if you like electronic music I don't think you can go wrong with either of Burial's albums.

#5  cultnation's - Top 5 Portable Games for 2007

I couldn't resist this one.  Every gaming site in the world releases at least one (usually more) top games lists each year, so I thought why not me on my little blog.  By getting in early - releasing the list mid-december (just on my b'day) - I was thinking I might get a little more interest from fellow bloggers.  What do you know, it worked!!!

I hope you enjoyed my first month.

One of my 2007 new year's resolution is to read at least one book for each month. Unless I count comic-books, I have failed. In 2007 I am lucky enough to read...

Pushing Ice
by Alastair Reynolds.

Pushing Ice is my first Alastair Reynolds book and I have to say I am impressed. A very captivating read about the journey of man trying to do their best on an alien world. Despite its thematic similarity with Arthur C. Clarke's Rama II, Reynolds is able to captivate you with various mind-challenging subjects.

Stardust
by Neil Gaiman.

I brought the book not long after I watched the movie. While both of them follows a the same ideas, the adaptation is different. The book itself is more geared to adult readers with a more realistic tone compared to the movie. Which one is better is purely based on personal opinion. For me, I prefer the book than the movie, but only by a little bit.

Name of The Rose
by Umberto Eco

A medieval detective story with a 14th century Italian monastery backdrop. I am sure it would interest anyone who loves reading about medieval Catholic history.

Software Testing: An ISEB Foundation
By Brian Hambling, Et Al.

A must read for anyone working to pass the ISEB/ISTQB Foundation exam.

50 Rahasia Mengelola Uang
by Elvyn G. Masassya

A compilation of 50 short personal/family finance articles by an Indonesian financial expert, Elvyn G. Masassya. I really think that the subject of personal finance should be thought in schools. It is a practical knowledge that are useful for everyone in their daily lives. Topics such as: how should one spend one's monthly salary or what one should do to avoid debt are essential but are seldom taught.

Yes, a disappointing five out of twelve... comic-books don't count. There are at least two books I look forward to read in 2008: Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco) and Revelation Space (Alastair Reynolds).

NHK ni Youkousou N.H.K.にようこうそ!  Welcome to the N.H.K. A single volume novel is the original work, an 8 volume 40 chapter manga started two years before the 24 episode anime series although the anime was finished almost a year before the manga was due to the differences in release and production (the manga was monthly while the anime was weekly). I endeavored to make my way through all of them, somehow in a variety of languages. I really can't give you a good reason why other than "I was looking for something". Broadly the stories and endings are the same so there is not much point to observing all three for most people.

The series is about a variety of misfits and the protagonist in particular is socially withdrawn. The key to the series is the term "hikikomori" which the main character is considered although "NEET" (Not in Education, Employment or Training) is more of a buzz term than "hikki" these days, maybe. I think there's a term for the type of story that it is, but basically the story seems unconventional only to prove itself as being a normal story after all in the end.

The differences of the 3 works have been expounded upon in other places {edit: after writing this I realized that I myself had also compared the anime and manga before but had forgotten doing so} so I will be brief and just give my impressions:

The Novel is the briefest, darkest, vaguest, and possibly least enjoyable of the versions. Due to complications its the last version I viewed, but it is the cheapest to obtain even though it probably has the least availability of all the versions (although it is available some places that the other versions aren't completed in yet...). I'm not entirely certain that it was the original intention of the writer Tatsuhiko Takimoto for the work to be only a single volume. According to his afterword(s) the book is semi-autobiographical which is indeed a painful thing, and perhaps as a result or an excuse he really hasn't done anything since. This goes back to something I've said before about the responsibility of creation, although at that time I stressed the importance of considering the effect on others, one should also consider the affect on oneself. Then again this was a story that needed to be out there I think. Other than the main character Satou, his "friend" and neighbor Yamazaki seems to be featured the most prominently. A lot of things in this version were censored out of the other versions, mostly the illegal activities but anything that was particularly uncomfortable, like Yamazaki's past and the explicit details of the relationship between Satou and his sempai (I can't remember if her name was mentioned in the book or not, he definitely never called her by her name in it though) Hitomi.

This has nothing to do with anything, and is a spoiler for a variety of series, but the relationship between Satou and his sempai reminds me of the relationship between the male protagonist of "saishuu heiki kanojo" and the sempai HE had. It's been a while since I checked that series out though, and truthfully it's not an uncommon event.

The manga version was the one I was first exposed to and possibly the one I enjoyed the most due in large part to the style of Kendi Oiwa the artist/author of the work. I suppose that technically the anime might possibly take more time to get through but I thought that the manga ended out being the deepest work. The narrative is slightly different in the manga than in the novel and there are a lot of themes, events, and characters added in or expounded upon. Much to the contradiction of Satou's position as a hikikomori for the most part. Yamazaki and Misaki seem to be featured with equal prominence with both appearing to at least some degree in almost all of the chapters, although probably Misaki's life gets focused on more (although, did the final cliff scene happen in this one or not? I think it might not have and should check before saying this...) and "sempai" shows up a LOT more than in the novel. In fact she really only shows up twice in the novel compared to around a dozen or more times in the manga. There's some question in my mind whether the manga wasn't melding the elements of the novel and the anime together rather than the other way around with the anime. That said I felt like the ending of the series was somewhat of an abrupt cop-out and the one I liked the least. By the way I thought the manga was somehow the dirtiest of all the works, whatever the hell that means.

As to the anime, it was by and far the most painful of the works. The reason for that is the addition of voice. I thought the animation/character designs looked like shit too and that just added to the desperate impression of the work. I saw the ending of the anime first by the way, and I felt like it was the one that, well... actually had the ending that added up the most. Maybe it was more believably hopeful in some way, although you could say that contradicts the original work maybe that's for the wellbeing of those who encounter it? The characters are probably shallower and more likable in this series, and it seemed like Misaki's sessions featured the most prominently in this work, sometimes occurring multiple times in an episode. Being as this was a nationally broadcast anime series in japan, a lot of the darker and seemingly non-plot related contents were toned down or eliminated. This had the effect of eliminating the reasons for the pathos of the main characters, I think, and to that effect the characters were a lot less extreme. Although the anime is more faithful of an adaptation of the book than the manga is as far as events go (though it had quite a few added in from the manga as well), the overall mood and characterization is way off. Whether that's a good or a bad thing I can't say.

At this point I'm not sure I'd recommend the series to anyone but those who are really lost in life the way that Satou is. Although maybe it's interesting in the "outside looking in" way because I think a lot of people just really can't understand people that live like that. Not that I believe this series can give someone an understanding of that. Those who know know after all. Just that people are interested in things that are unlike themselves. hmm... I had something philosophical to say about this whole thing but it slipped my mind. Something like there's no need to try and do things in order to enjoy life if you have a way of living you enjoy in the first place. But I have to wonder if society wouldn't collapse if everyone realized what that really means and tried to follow it. Oh well.

Conversely I think this series was "otaku popular" for what is essentially the same reason that I said people bought and read "the alchemist" by Paulo Coelho although I'll phrase it a different way. People wish that their lives were different but they don't want to change them and instead just vaguely hope that something will painlessly change them in a positive way. This especially applies to NEET otakus, you know who you are, but a lot of people just wish that their life were vaguely "better" although they really have no idea what that means. I'm not in the mood to be righteous today though, not when it's the end of the year.

 Lamb took them into the city in a limousine.  Borrowed bathrobes were fine for an attention-grabbing impromptu television conference, but the group would need clothes.  He dressed them into whatever he could find in his closets that would fit.  His shirts and pants were in some cases a little baggy, but the only real problem was the bulky Daniel.  He had to make do with an unbuttoned shirt and a tropical sarong wrapped around his waist, covering his desert-stained boxers.

            "Anybody laughs, anybody, and I will personally throw you off a building," he glared at his friends as they got into the car.

            By the time they arrived at Vancouver's Westfield Mall, Dan had recovered some of his confidence.  He actually walked down the mall corridors flirting and grinning at young women as if he wore the sarong every day.

            "I don't know how he does that," Jason whispered.  Evan overheard him.

            "You should see him at school.  He walks down the hall to the bathroom wearing just a towel. Dan believes his pecs are God's gift to women."

            "I didn't know God was that mean," Genevieve observed.  This set the trio to giggling, but luckily Dan didn't overhear them.   

            Lamb encouraged them to shop, telling them they could pick out anything they liked.  His one proviso was that they show him what they wanted to wear.  He picked a store, and the young men headed out.  Dan and Alex let out semi-loud cheers of enthusiasm, revelling in Lamb's generosity.

            Genevieve looked around for Ethan before heading into the women's section of the store.  He seemed to have vanished into the clothing racks before she could get his attention.  She hadn't had much opportunity yet to speak with him, and she wondered if he was feeling any better since his spell of unconsciousness on the mountain.

            She took her time deciding on what to buy.  For one thing, there was so much selection.  Bright colours abounded for spring and summer.  For another, Eve was not entirely comfortable with Lamb's generosity.  What was motivating him?

            Genevieve selected a few light dresses, a pair of jeans and a few tops.  She made her way through the underwear selection, getting what she needed quickly before heading back to wear she'd seen Lamb last, near the men's clothing.

            "Genevieve!  Pssst, hey, Eve, does this look stupid?"

She turned to see who was trying to get her attention.  Alexander was trying on a grotesquely coloured shiny shirt, which she guessed was someone's idea of nightclub attire.  The designer was likely on drugs or thought clients were stupid, she thought.

"Alex, no!  Try something like this," she grabbed a few t-shirts and some collared shirts with short sleeves.  Her selections were much less garish.  "I thought you had more sense than that."

Alex grinned as she helped him tug the shirt over his arms.  "Maybe it was just my way of getting your attention."

She blushed.  "And why would you want to do that?"

"I don't know, maybe because..."  Whatever his reason, Genevieve didn't get to hear it.  Neal called out to the two of them from the next aisle, interrupting Alexander's words.

"Hey, you two, have you seen Owen come by here?  He swiped my pants while I was looking at this pair of jeans in the mirror."

Genevieve and Alex walked over to find Neal was wearing a pair of pants that were in a zebra pattern.  Alex tried to hide his laughter behind his hand, but Eve couldn't help but giggle into his shoulder.

"He dared me to!  It's not like I intended to buy them.  But until I get the ones Mr. Lamb bought me back, I'm stuck wearing these!"  Neal turned red.

"Dude, just get into a change-room.  I will find you a pair of jeans or something," Alexander said.  "Eve, see if you can find Owen.  Torture him if you have to."

Genevieve turned to look for their friends, laughing all the way.