Sean watched the conversation in disbelief. His mother said, “Your mother will be here soon and we’ll all go to the mall after you’ve finished e...ting breakfast.”“I can’t wait,” Suzie said.Sean’s father shuffled into the room. His face was unshaved, his eyes were red, and his hair uncombed. While heading towards the coffee pot, he said, “God, Woman. You wore me out last night. What got into you?”“If I remember correctly, it was you,” Sean’s mother answered with a wink and a grin.Sean groaned and. Such are the highs and lows of the male ego.Anyway back at the bookstore, I went on thinking my pleasant thoughts and went towards the registers to find out what Stumpy’s latest grievance against his co-workers was. Passing Teresa and Julio I chanced to overhear them talking as they “worked.”“I tell you, she’s hot.”“Hey,” replied Julio, “she’s old. Had kids, too, so she’s probably all stretched out.”Teresa let out an exacerbated sigh. “You guys, you can only think about what you’re sticking. You know airplane food these days. I’m making an early dinner but it’s not ready yet. I do have a few appetizers and some white wine being chilled though.’ ‘Wow, thanks,’ Em extolled. ‘You guys didn’t have to go to so much trouble,’ John offered. ‘Mandy’s idea,’ Nick explained. ‘She wanted to welcome you home properly.’ ‘Well, thanks, Mandy,’ John expressed. ‘Yes, thanks,’ Em added as they entered the kitchen. They were greeted by a nice aroma from the stove and the table was set for four. The. He frowned."Seriously?" Seriously! You've never seen it?" No." He flipped a few more pages. "What the hell is it?" It's ... give me a moment." Her eyes closed. Shanna knew the name of the thing, but had never heard it pronounced. Voy ... Voy something... "Ah!" Her eyes opened, looking back up at James. "It's the Voynich Manuscript!" Voynich..." Yup! I'm sure of it!" She grabbed a hundred of the pages, flipping through them. She stopped on a page of text, illustrations of nude women in water.