"Carl, that was just an arbitrary number I threw out there, when I was pissed. I miss you. I want you to come home," she said seriously. "I don't care...if you only lost 2 pounds. I've got what I wanted, and you are seriously trying. If you really want to lose weight now that you're serious about it, you can lose weight at home just as easily." No Sarah," I said just as seriously. "A deal is a deal. I won't be home until I've lost at least 50 lbs., maybe more." In my mind, I'd keyed on her words. Inside the trailer, every room was painted and there was new carpet on the floor. The place was really nice looking inside. All we needed was some furniture and it would be a great place to live.Back in the kitchen Fun was touching the newly painted cabinets and looking at the new linoleum on the floor. "Where did they get this stuff? How did they get this stuff?"In the living room the walls and ceiling were painted the same color as before, white. Since there was no change in appearance, there. Every night I used to meet people full of vigour and zest, it was like being young forever. On one of such night shifts, a handsome man of 35 sat down and gave me a wry smile, I was attracted to him at the very first moment I saw him enter the bar but I curbed my attraction as I didn’t wanted to seem too forward and desperate for his attention. Minding my steps, I stood beside his table and said, can I help you, sir? A martini, please, anything else?‘If you can give your number, we can arrange. I said with all the sarcasm I could muster, “Great!”With Maria pulling and me pushing we finally wrestled the trunk out of the coliseum and onto the surrounding flagstones. The Fortress walls were dark and intimidating in the distance.Merchants and the people who had formerly served in the Legion had created a substantial village around the Fortress.I had expected narrow medieval lanes between half-timbered buildings. But what I saw was a wide cobblestone street fronted by tidy rows of stone.