I should add that when I work on the garden I tend to be archetypal scruffy, more like a bum. It wasn’t until afterward that I realised just how muc... so on this occasion. The blue-rinse lady had stopped to chat. “I’m glad to see that someone is doing something about the mess at last,” she said. “It’s been making the neighbourhood look down at heel.” It was then I realised that she must have taken me for the hired help, rather than the owner. In typical fashion she ploughed on without waiting. " Kelly smiled again, her expression becoming positively predatory."But you've been ... you already have ... two guys, right?" Sandy objected."One and a half, really. With a raincoat it only counts as half. And the day's still young." Kelly winked again."I didn't... "Sandy was at a loss as to what to say. She didn't want to be cruel. The immediate thoughts that ran through her head to reject Kelly were some of the most vicious insults she could think of. She knew she could call her a "town. Couples would get exclusive when they were trying to make a baby. Most couples tried to have three kids. By custom the first and third kids were by the same father. The second, though, was often with someone else. The reason was to provide a broader mix of genes—the founders of Three Valleys had only numbered a few dozen, not enough to avoid inbreeding. They'd had a steady flow of people attracted to the lifestyle, but every girl knew they needed more diversity in the gene pool; it was. ‘It’s all right, you weren’t to know.’ ‘I could have made the connection — Philip Robertson, one of this country’s best blue water sailors.’ ‘You knew him?’ ‘Only by what I read in newspapers. I knew he was a successful businessman in the marine industry as well.’ ‘Yes, thank you Harry, I’m in the process of selling out of his company. Oh gosh, I’ve just thought of something: how are you going to finish your manuscript with your right arm in this brace?’ ‘Produce tapes and have an agency to put.