Ashley defending his reasoning, explained, ”I looked at the clock and I was like, ‘Eh, it’s 5:30 in the morning. Nobody’s going to be up.’ Cause I thought about putting clothes on.” Tiffany asks Ashley, “Did you have morning wood?” Ashley admits sheepishly, “Yeah.” Defensively, he says, “I’m just walking around comfortably in the middle of the night getting some water. I didn’t think your mom’s going to be bursting in on me in the kitchen.” Giggling, Tiffany emphatically explains the flaw in Ashley’s reasoning, “It’s not like she came in the bathroom and you had morning wood -- she came in the kitchen. You’re standing at the refrigerator with a big hard-on, getting water? What are you doing?” Ashley resolves, “I’m going to put a little red light bulb up above that doorway right there and when I’m walking around naked, I’m flipping that switch, and it’s going to be a warning light.”

Continued on Page 3

The next day, Ashley and Tiffany discover that just because they’ve moved into larger quarters, they still don’t have complete privacy. During a conversation while seated on their sofa, Ashley tells Tiffany, “And you and your mom are always ganging up on me these days.” Tiffany counters with a mischievous smile, “No we’re not! Mom saw you this morning at the refrigerator with morning wood.” Shocked, Ashley responds, “What? It was like 5:30 in the morning!” Tiffany reaffirms, “She told me that she saw you standing at the refrigerator naked.” Still amazed, Ashley exclaims, “You’re kidding me! Oh my God! I’m so embarrassed! Are you serious?” Giggling, Tiffany recounts that her mom told her, “I heard the refrigerator open and I thought it was you... and I came out and there’s Ashley, standing naked with morning wood, looking in the fridge… getting water.”

As Ashley is sorting through the stuff in their garage, he gets a call from Larry, regarding a meeting between Ashley and Soul Power. Larry tells Ashley that he is going to have the opportunity to talk to Soul Power face to face. Ashley says that he has to think about what he wants to say because confrontation doesn’t come easy for him and he feels like it could go there. Larry thinks it’s a good opportunity for them to resolve their differences. Ashley says that he will go in with an open mind and he is interested to hear what Soul Power has to say. He has a lot of anxiety going in to this thing, so he’s glad that Larry is going to be his wingman. Larry says he’ll be Ashley’s rock and will jump in if he sees any sweat on Ashley’s brow.

Ashley has been officially designated to do the grocery shopping. He goes over the list that Scarlet is writing

out for him… Two bags of ice, corn, green tomatoes, large baking potatoes and oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough. Tiffany asks Ashley, “Are you going to handle it?” Ashley says confidently, “Of course I can handle it. It’s grocery shopping. How hard can that be?

He arrives at the upscale Bristol Farms in the somewhat conservative town of South Pasadena. He whips out the shopping list as he rolls the shopping cart through the entrance, reads the list and heads off to the produce department. After scanning the tomato section and checking with the produce man, Ashley learns that the store doesn’t carry green tomatoes. The produce guy shows Ashley the tomatillos they have and assures Ashley that they’re similar. Unconvinced, Ashley calls Tiffany and says, “Hey babe, so they don’t have green tomatoes, but they’ve got these like miniature, like midget tomatoes. They’re green, yeah, but they’re like miniature – like small, like mini tomatoes."