With this idiot governor we've got, the school funding is just getting worse and worse since she sees the schools as a place to dip into for funds for...all the damn left-wing liberal programs she can think of. That's going to bite us in the ass, and sooner than we think. Hell, she took a bunch of money from the schools and dumped it into some damn college expansions downstate, as if the goddamn colleges don't get enough money anyway with the fees and tuition they're charging. That money should. Did your genie give you some powers?”“That’s not what we’re discussing.”“It’s just that minus the Secretary General over there, I count 5 of you. 2 humans, two genies, and you. What are you, exactly?”“Are you going to give us what we want or not?”Frank thought for a moment, and then smiled.“Very well then. Asrah, if you please.” Asrah picked up the bag, and opened it, revealing Sarosa’s lamp. “One lamp, complete with all-powerful slave girl.”“Cressida, test it,” said Adam.“Yes Master.” The. Jane rigged up a lead rope for Curly's horse and headed toward the nearest town. She was so far away from her starting point of a few days ago that she just kept going the way she had been headed, knowing that she would eventually run across a trail leading to some town—she wasn't particularly concerned with which one it might be. Jane had never been in this part of the state before, so she was lost for all practical purposes. However, she had plenty of food and water and two horses, so she. Only the light tapping of Sheila's pencil on the tabletop betrayed her outwardly calm exterior. The taps steadily increased in tempo the longer we waited. It was as if the pencil doubled as a Geiger counter reporting that her frustration was approaching critical mass.The giggles and laughter of several women echoed from the walls of the hall as if on cue. Darlene, Lucia, and a woman whose name turned out to be Sandra emerged from the kitchen moments later. I saw the trio and nearly burst out.