Alex clicks his tongue. "Connected with the living cards and gum and all that happy stuff, I'll bet," he says, still working on getting the pages off of John. His eyes naturally drift down, attracted by John's struggle, and then his brows rise.

He plants one foot on the book as well, right next to John's. Sorry about the invasion of personal space, buddy.

"Jeez," he says, quickening the removal of pages. "What is it, a body builder's manual or something?"