Past the hump?

I got through Chapter 8, Celebration, and set up Chapter 9's structure. I took 7 pages from the first one and used them at the beginning of the second. Then I expanded a reference to Brendan having trouble with a drunk at one of his uncle's other bars that almost crashes into a fight because he won't sing Danny Boy.

That hints that Scott is a troublemaker, something I may bring out more. Scott's upset Brendan has the pool house to live in. It's only because Jeremy is there that the confrontation doesn't spiral out of control. First hint that Jere is a black belt in Aikido. Now Scott's going to drag Brendan to a drag show in Montrose, even though he's not yet 18. But again, it doesn't turn out like expected, and Scott is off to university so things stop, by default.

The B-Girls also ram their way back into Brenda's life by taking him on as their pet and showing him the best clothes to buy. Nothing high-end like Neiman's or Frost Brothers, but intense. He's finally seen the best way to deal with those two is jut let them do what they want and ignore them once he's out of their sight. So now I just need to go through them to make sure they're in proper order.

There's also reference to the Houston Serial Killers -- Dean Croll, Elmer Wayne Henley and David Brooks. They invite Brendan to come to one of Dean's parties but he says no. A couple weeks later, word breaks.

27 boys went missing from the Heights area of Houston, including brothers, and the cops didn't do anything about it. Even after Henley shot Corll and they learned of the horror, their attitude was, Cool. We've got a higher number of dead than Juan Corona.

Then a few years later, after John Wayne Gacy was credited with 33 murders, the cops tried to find more bodies in places they'd once been told to look, so they could maintain their record...but to their irritation could find nothing more.

If that doesn't tell you what cops are all about, nothing will.