Why did we do it, Jesse? Solomon asks himself.
Did Jesse go along to do something that was beyond the reach of her father Matt Clement? No safety net. The act was hers and hers alone. Call it what you will. What did the politicians and so-called experts in their conclaves, think tanks, and universities know about women Jesse's age? Precious little. Dad hadn’t been around much of the time anyway. After Jesse's mother died giving birth, he hired more nannies to run the house and bring up baby. Did she go along with Solomon, Utica, and Demo because she belonged to a new family now, because friends and friendship were important, the only meaningful bonds that she herself had forged?
And to keep her three-ring circus going she had to prove that she was as daring as the boys. And when it came
