What could be the harm in meeting Vanessa's young girls? If only I had known the trouble I was about to encounter, maybe I would have kept driving as ... got closer to Vanessa's house that day. Walking towards the front door, I felt a twinge of excitement as well as doubt. I was glad that Vanessa thought enough of me to ask me to meet her daughters. But, I was also feeling a little anxious and hoped that the girls would approve of me. Knocking on the door, it took only seconds for Vanessa to. Zack’s parents are away they said.”I fought off the urge to ladle spoilsport cautionary advice upon her, but smiled and helped her enjoy the prospect. “Terrific.”“I can get something to wear,” she prattled uncharacteristically over dinner, “now I know about the charity shops. I’ve got a few pounds saved up. I wonder what I should get. What do you think?”“You can’t go wrong with jeans.”“Jeans?” she was disappointed.“Well I don’t know,” I backed down, before I could add what had flitted into my. I need to know how to plan things. I think it is obvious that Dick Cheney is not planning on slipping away quietly.”“That is very true. Well, I wasn’t planning on making any announcements this early, but I suspect it will have to come out. I will be running for election in 2004. I talked it over with Marilyn over the weekend, and she supports me. I am going to need your help, because I have never done a national campaign like this before. You will need to help with the planning.”He looked at me. She had forgiven him his comments about cleaning up, for on getting home the night before, or actually, early this morning, she'd stood in front of her mirror, naked and taken a close look at herself. She was filthy. But that was because of the dust and grime on the porch floor. She looked for her toothbrush and remembered she'd thrown it away after that guy used it. 'When was that?' she asked herself. That had been three weeks ago! "It couldn't be," she gasped. 'Christ on a crutch, ' she.