Section 18 (through page 509) Summary

Lily comes home with ten guppies. Cleaning the tank gets Oscar involved. He mumbles about the Gay Alliance backing Bilk, and his Iowa congressman ally resigning. There is a letter saying they will repossess Oscar's car, but since Christina has its twin here, that does not matter. Peyton has sent a monstrous but expensive plant, realizing the dentist's bill has him dead to rights. Oscar is not eating well and is interested only in fish. They have caught the woman who stole Lily's purse and credit card. Christina has had a dream about Basie and how everything suggests he was a decent man who sprung the trap on the defense by not challenging its arguments when he could have. He left it to the appeal, which he knew would be won. Basie is Oscar's true friend.

Jack Preswig, no...