At the back of the office was a closed door and a small, iron stove plus a familiar pair of women talking with their backs to me. They laughed and cha...ted, seemly oblivious to me and the storm. The late fall storm had been expected, but I didn’t have to like how it delayed the departure of our recently completed dragon boat. Getting the craft completed had consumed my time and it felt a long time coming. The craft was an addition to our fast freight fleet. In an age of bulky, square-rigged. She simply had to go once a week and go over the gym books and do reports that she could e-mail him.Lisa now had Joey and the six north girls to tutor. When I had picked up the folder with the contracts I had left for them to read, they had all been signed and witnessed by each other. I was serious about them getting into the local college and keeping good grades. I had not had any discussions with Shelia about the south side girls or with them to see if they were interested in self improvement. "She snuck a glance at Walt and felt an overpowering urge to protect him,this great big bear of a man. What could she possibly protect him from?His own nobility, perhaps? His own goodness of heart? She would protecthim from going into battle over her. Because she knew that he would so ina heartbeat and she couldn't bear to see him hurt. She would rather behurt herself than to have him think that he'd ever failed her. Because hecouldn't fail her, no matter what happened from here on out. He. Soon he asked himself, "Why?" again out loud.But he knew why. He had been ignoring his wife... badly. The job had consumed him for the last six months. And everything with his darling Jill had been "put off". The long walks, the long talks, the dating they had continued even after they had been married for some time. Even the sex had become less and less and he couldn't remember when he had been there for that even. Lately he just dragged himself home late and collapsed after a warmed over.