“What? How can you have magic? You're an acolyte? Aren't only priestesses allowed to cast spells?”“I'm a special exemption,” Sophia gasped. �...Can I open my eyes?”“Yeah, you're covered by my shield.”Sophia opened her green eyes. Then she rubbed her milk-covered hands on my sword, staining the metal with smears of white. “Saphique, the Virgin Goddess that loves all women, bless this weapon so it may protect its bearer. Let this sword shine bright, a beacon to defend all women.”I gasped as my sword. "Hey, hows it going?" he says."Pretty good" I say."You here by yourself?" "No my boyfriend is just getting changed, Im waiting for him." Oh really? Cool. Nice night isn't it?" Sure is."And then there is a bit of a silence as we each enjoy the evening and the beautiful hot water."Are you sure you're here with your boyfriend?" he says, "I cant see him anywhere..." Yeah he's here, he's just taking his time for some reason.." Oh ok, sure."And with that he moves a little closer to me.I can see his. I wasn’t sure how many I had gone through by then, and the only one I could feel was one of the soft-sided magazines, not the hard cases I preferred. Beggars can’t be choosers, so I loaded it and levered myself upright again. Somebody must have seen me, and a machine gun swung towards me, firing as it went. I still couldn’t move very well, so I lay there half on the sandbags and pulled Precious to me. I got it into position and said a final prayer and began firing again. Tracers work both ways,. Looks like he’s doing okay. He’ll be here for a while.” ***** John certainly felt he was doing okay, as he had nearly doubled his money over the past thirty minutes or so of play. Mickey switched back to watch John’s wife. Judy still sat while the bath filled with hot water, contemplating the plight that she and her husband were in. It just wasn’t fair, she thought, none of the mess was John’s fault, but stench of the scandal seemed to cling to him. She was worried mainly about John himself..