We would sit and watch the people go by out on the sidewalk and talk about "things." There was a fair sized magazine rack and we might "look through" ... magazine or two.Comic books were not what they are today yet, but there were a couple of children's pulp publications costing a nickel. Now as long as you bought something at the soda fountain you weren't necessarily expected to buy a magazine just because you were reading it. (Want to try it today?)Ma would leave her "men folk" and go shopping. The only bright spots were his regular letters and the occasional video message, from Kat. She had graduated, was now working with Helios in the Beta sector and, though she couldn't put specifics into her messages, she was also stuck in an office doing research. She was even more action-oriented than Pan was and they could commiserate through their letters. It helped, though he missed her more than he had ever thought possible.The initial stages of Pan's investigation had been slow going, but. Out of my four students only two should up that day. They were my landlord’s kids, Rishi and Raghu. They were identical twins and it took me few days to differentiate from one another. Since I also looked young somehow they ended up calling me by my name, Sruthi.I was in a bad mood on that day and the broken elevator rubbed salt to the wound. I stormed into the house and asked the twins to sit. I was so furious that I decided that unless I took a bath I wouldn’t relax. I gave some work to the. ‘Hi Rick, you busy?’ She asked me with a smile. I told her of course not and asked what was up. ‘Well, since our ‘husbands’ are gone, I thought maybe you would like to have dinner at my house.’ Deep down I knew this was probably going to be a bad idea and for a second I considered turning down her offer, but my desires took over and I accepted it. I got my shoes on and followed her down the street to her house, which was exactly the same floor plan as ours. The first thing I saw upon entering.