He moved to the bar and mixed us both a couple of drinks.Looking over to me, he muttered, "I think we're both going to need some Dutch courage." Seati...g himself, he stared at me and said, "Ok, begin at the beginning, don't leave anything out."I took a large swallow of the scotch. "Emily has been cheating. I confronted her and she told me to drop dead. You want to know anything else?" I added a bit sarcastically."Knock it off, Paul. Don't be a wise ass, I've known you too long. Why don't you. . was it nice", she muttered."What was nice?" Burt asked."The ... the fuck and the suck?" she replied with a nervous giggle. Burt was silent. 'What was she getting at?' he asked himself. The idea of her using the four letter word didn't actually surprise him for she had never criticized him when he had used it in the passed and on a number of occasions, especially when he had been doing some maintenance, he had uttered it. There was also the one occasion in which she had used it. He had arrived. Shirley was disappointed but said we would have plenty of time for kids later. We had started watching the calendar and it was working so far. The locals all had their eyebrows raised thinking we had to get married. Even the priest went on and on about our pre-marital stuff. Shirley and I agreed it was none of his business and didn't confess any of it. Our folks always shushed folks quick with a better they get married than not. Lots of kids quit school because they have to get married. These. All. Everything.”“The principles,” her mum qualified the confession. “Just what can be conveyed verbally of course. But a lot of information. But only in their own language. The waterboarding was too much, when they did it on Emerald to interrogate the others, and Cyan.”“Oh I understand! But so,” Grace recalled her thinking from before, “did they record it? Did they make them speak Striteracian?”“They’ve recorded it, on a recorder, that looks like a phone. Though they can’t get into Claude’s.