The sheer scale of his words caused silence in the room.The Prime Minister paled and it was almost as if he was crumpling from the inside he was so vi...ibly deflated. Again it was a credit to the man's courage that they could all see him recover immediately from his momentary lapse and he pulled himself together."I can't believe all the time, energy and resources we have pumped in to emergency planing are all coming to nothing," the Prime Minister said sadly. "Home Secretary, how long to close. I knew what she said, but I also knew that shecould be sneaky when she was angry, so my only hope was that shewouldn't get mean about it. Since I had no choice at all, by the timeI stepped out of the shower I was, just as she demanded, squeakyclean. My immediate future seemed very bleak as I envisioned mymother helping me get dressed as a girl, and I sincerely hoped thatshe didn't decide on that little girl look. You know, short puffydresses trimmed in gobs of lace and a silly hat. If I had to. . she thanked them all. Never mentioned me ... Why would she mention me ... I showed no interest ... I was just ner boss. No biggie. Thank God.Then the Local Affiliate (telly) got her aside and did their own interview ... which went sorta like this:TV: First female win in years. How does it feel?Abbie: I knew it was coming ... I just had to get to the front and stay there.TV: Yes ... you’ve had some collisions with lapped race cars.Abbie: Not that I’m accusing any one ... but it seemed strange. So on Monday, we quietly disappeared from the shelter, and headed off on our own. Anita made a quick stop at an automatic teller, and found that another deposit had been made from Dad's pension. So she pulled out all the money she could, and divided it between us. There were a lot of migrant workers heading out to the orchards and fields, so we blended in as best we could, and wound up catching a ride on a rickety bus out into a forested area dotted with groves of apple trees. Instead of.