He nodded ever so slightly and she stepped into his embrace. Her face rested against his chest as her ears picked up the rhythmic beating of his heart...It took every ounce of strength she possessed not to fall apart in that moment, as the tears streamed down and a sob escaped her lips. This was it. With a deep shudder, she somehow managed to step back out of his arms. Wiping her eyes yet again, she gave him a teary smile. “The girls and I will be there in two weeks,” she assured him, her voice. After, I was checking on my makeupwhen two very ugly gurls, one of whom had a fully-grown beard, stumbledinto the bathroom, obviously drunk already and obviously horny. Theywere kissing each other, lips and tongues and spit flying everywhere.I smiled at them, admiring their passion and once again revelling in theopenness and pride they were both displaying. This is who they are, andthis is what they enjoy, and they're going for it, and to hell withanyone and everyone who doesn't like it or. Gone ... not even a wisp to bury.Nothing she could recover ... no relic ... G-O-N-E!The hole was still filling ... there wasn't even any floating debris...Still in shock, she realized that the hole was MUCH bigger than the Princessapality.There were other islands missing ... other people gone.This was the biggest most destructive device she had ever heard of.There were ships down there ... melted, twisted, burning, swept towards the hole in the earth ... her compassion for her fellow innocents. He assumed it was her bedroom still. Then there was the Rubin’s house that abutted the Shaws to the rear. Nicholas had to go all the way to the right of his window in order to look far enough across to the left to see the Rubin’s house. He needed his binoculars to see anything in detail, but he could see the entire back of their house, including a second floor balcony, and a little garden area that Mrs. Rubin kept very tidy. He liked watching the Rubin’s three cats mill about the yard and try.