Even the giant blonde sculpture on his headwithheld the knife's assault, leaving Rick trembling in fear. Jackie andDave didn't share his fear, instead...they were again overcome with drunkenlaughter."SHUT UP!" Rick yelled, "This isn't funny! How the hell do I take thisstupid thing off! I look ridiculous!" That's WHY we're laughing!" Jackie said, running her hands over the bigskirts. "Come on, let's go show everyone how pretty you are!"Rick slapped Jackie hard across the face. He wasn't sure why. We went out the back exit together, not talking orlooking much at each other, and climbed to the openobservation area over the bar, away from everyone. Thesun was brilliant, so that we had to shield our eyes.The wind blew with the passage of the ship along theriver.She didn’t know how to begin. After a false start, shesaid, “Look, I can guess what you think you saw lastnight, and maybe what you thought was happening.”Then she stopped. She didn’t know what to say or. They touched and tried to read labels on at least half the store. I finally had to move them along as we needed to go check on Ben.On the way to the clinic, I stopped at the meat locker for some beef and pork. With three, possibly four mouths to feed, I would need extra food.The doctor was talking to Ben out by the front desk when we walked in. Ben was smiling, so his prognosis must be good. The doctor said, "Ben is in good shape, but needs to stay away from his shine for a while. It's running. I brushed the hair back, off my forehead. It felt heavy in the room.“I am sorry to do this tonight, Anna.”“No …”“I could’ve waited.”“Don’t apologize. I should.”Anna reached out, taking my hand again. She pulled it to her chest, against her heart. I turned to look at her. “Kiss me,” she said. “Kiss me. Let’s figure the rest out later. I promise. I want this. Please?”I swallowed hard. Anna was a fixer. She hated pain in people. I wasn’t sure if this was real or her way of healing a wound. But I.