Either it fooled me all along, or Mikah had known something I didn’t. It was raining harder, and it was cooler than I expected. That would teach me ...ot to forget to check the weather on my computer before I left. Even though Mikah was home, I carried the walking stick/entrenching tool. I needed it to lean on when my back began with the muscle pain. Every minute I spent leaning on the tool, meant five more minutes I could walk. So yes mornings like that one I used the walking stick a lot.I saw a. God, had she needed to come after that, staring at her phone, waiting for the next text to tell her how many more times to swat it. She had gotten so, so close, from that, had so wanted to be ordered to hump the ruler. Thinking of that, she had to stop him again, kiss him, to hide how much she’d worked herself up, to allow herself a chance to catch her breath. They walked down the stairs—he avoided escalators when he could, saying it was a small way to stay in shape. She suspected it was. I saw Sue touch Francis’ arm a number of times and spend an inordinate amount of time making eye contact with him. I was pretty sure that Sue was doing this on purpose, as part of the little game we often played, knowing that because Francis was a handsome black guy, it would get to me more than normal.I was so mesmerized by watching this flirty teasing game going on between my wife and Francis that I’m sure I missed my turn at the bar, and Richard moaned loudly when I finally returned with. "As an added incentive for joining us, we decided to bump up your CIP score by the tenth of a point you missed. This, in addition to the twelve you previously earned when we chose to accept your plan to eradicate the Vermin, will initially bring your total to twenty-two companions," the AI explained."Twenty-two companions! You've got to be shitting me!!!" I exclaimed."Joseph!" my father warned sternly."Oh, sorry," I replied, rather embarrassed by my outburst."That's quite alright, young man,".