I knew others would not be. There would be fear and crying through out the entire metropolitan area simply because some people have a complete disrega...d for life. How arrogant can they be?During the day I began to worry about Nadia and Mohamed. Because of their beliefs, the way they look and the way they dress they are prime targets of the usual hatred that some of us have in this country for people that are different. With bin Laden being accused of the murders, Moslems were especially. You are a woman asserting a maleness no longer yours by rote, and it shows: your approach is too overt, too brusque for the sensitivity of the changed viewpoints. The old learned finesse is gone, along with the easy familiarity on which it was based."Let's..."The clash is communicated by flickers of expression in a glance: you two need room to work this out.By unspoken agreement, rather than go up to her place, you two walk over to a late-night eatery where you are both well-known.Friends look. So I guess she saw me as a challenge. Now, I’m no perfect physical specimen. I could stand to lose about fifteen or twenty pounds. But I carry myself well and dress well, and I’m told I have a quiet confidence that women find attractive. And I’ll admit I have a pretty handsome face. What Danielle started doing was touching me all the time. Not just patting me on the shoulder. Pressing her body up against mine. Like a hug, but more like she was holding me. I would be leaning against a counter. "Why not Ed and Becky? Or Jimmy and Cassie? How many other couples have propositioned us for some action? Why these two?" They're old friends," Leah said. "We can trust them. They have more to lose than we do." You haven't seen them in what ... twelve ... years?" Melinda pressed. "I'm sure they knew—or at least heard the rumours—about us years ago. Why didn't they contact us then? Why now?" Maybe they weren't ready to take this step," I said calmly. "Maybe we aren't either." I just don't want.