" There's a bigdifference between those ladies and you: I haven't caught them. Maybe you knowthe old spider saying: 'A bush in the hand is worth two i... the herd'? You'rewasting time that should be spent getting your affairs together. " "But I . . . I don't want to die! " said the blonde, and began to sobuncontrollably. Soon the others had joined her, and the gulch reverberatedwith their noisy weeping. " That's exactly the spirit, " said the spider. " You don't want to die,but you have to. So. **** ‘She’s covered in bruises Mary Alice and some of them look to be weeks old. Are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ ‘Jackson Whitlock, you know for a fact that it’s not my story to tell!’ ‘That may be true ma’am, but I can’t help her if I don’t know what’s going on. You know that whatever you or she may tell me never leaves this house. You have my word that I would never spread gossip concerning my patients.’ I made my way to get out of my childhood bed only to be stopped by a gentle. While on the plane to Philadelphia, she bored me with work schedules and stuff, until eventually I just tuned her out entirely. Even inside of the airport, she seemingly would not shut the fuck up about anything. My thinking at the time was “Great, I’m stuck with a boring-ass bitch that rarely has fun.” We get to our hotel late in the evening (around 8:30 PM) and go to the hotel bar for dinner. We agree to briefly discuss work until we meet first thing the next morning to go to our work site.. Calling at the café for coffee, I got almost the 'third degree' from Joan behind the counter; 'Who was the attractive young woman I had brought into the café the other day?' I replied that she was a lodger, who was going to be a student at Ipswich College next academic year. She raised her eyebrows with an expression that said clearly 'pull the other one, it's got bells on' but I just smiled."I've got to say," Joan said, "that you're looking a lot better than you had been." I think I'm getting.