She was deep in thought and remained so for several minutes. Nick waited confidently."Nick, my darling man and my blooming boss," she said at length, ...I'm going to be running out of projects to scrutinise pretty soon. Would you consider mentally appointing me as your Ellesmere Port," she sucked in her cheeks, "facilitator?" Facilitator?"She grinned conspiratorially. "Spy, persuader, outline designer and general undercover agent." I'm not having you being a Mata Hari." Certainly not! My body and. Athea laughed about the crestfallen expression on the faces of the two young women. Another task successfully completed, she thanked Iane and left.Then Roban entered the house he was greeted by Menja carrying a puppy dog under each arm, and two more whizzed yipping around her feet. He endured her exalted gushing and watched Bosko lying in a corner as two puppies jumped on him, over him and all around him. The big dog seemed to be as happy as his mistress.“They are all girl puppies, and Bosko. The Old Mother collected Johanna, who was walking on air after his great triumph. The old lady hustled him off to their quarters and helped him get ready for bed. Johanna changed into his nightgown and completed his evening toilette. The Old Mother brushed his hair a thousand strokes and then tucked him into bed. Tomorrow, she would let him sleep late into the day. There were twenty-nine more days of parties to attend, and he would need his beauty rest.***The first week of the gala celebration. You remember Willy Longfellow? Probably not, he was in my division on the other crew, not yours. I didn't find out until the crews combined for decommissioning the next year, but he was living at MY house and sleeping with MY wife while our crew was at sea!Jill must have thought it was perfect. Except for turnover, she always had a "husband" seeing to her needs, taking care of the car, doing the little chores around the house like water heater repair and so on. I thought my wife was resourceful.