Jon stopped and went to check that everyone was okay - they were; and he got talking to the people in the mini-bus. They were 8 Venture Scouts (3 lads...and 5 girls) all about 16 to 19 years old, with 2 leaders, a man and woman in their late twenties. Jon went into the café in the supermarket to talk to them whilst the Scouts went and did their shopping. Debbie and me went with the Scouts, and had a bit more fun. The lads wanted to go round with us whilst the girls wanted to get on with the. My wife smiled at me and said, “Don’tthey look lovely, Sheila?” “Y-Yes, they’re beautiful… I can’t believe it.” As she paid Cindy and we turned to go, she said, “Bythe way, I asked her to use a permanent set on thenails. You won’t be able to remove them.” I looked down at my hands in shock! How could you hidenails like that? What would I do at the end of the twoweeks? “Let’s go, we’ve got plenty still to. But by talking to your friends, it will at least give them a chance to see the real you. Then they can make up their own minds if they want to be your friends. It’s a big risk. But you have to be the one who decides when and if you’re ready to take that step. I took that step ten years ago. I lost a lot of my friends, and some family members. But I don’t regret my decision for a moment.’ Corky nods her understanding. She has finally heard something that makes sense to her. ‘Thank you Miss. “Might just be if I don’t get my sleep. Okay, you can be quite convincing if you want to. Can you please use that to get the captain to retire?”“I can at least try.”The drive was short, just one of the benefits of Moriarty’s that wasn’t really far from anywhere in the city. Another was that despite once being the shadiest bar in town it now probably cast blue shadows with how many cops frequented it. It was even owned by a former cop, Moriarty who had worked his ass off in Patrol for more years.