Thankfully, it still had a couple of years to go before it expired. Upon reflection, it occurred to me that the last time I'd seen that passport, it h...d been in a desk drawer back home – the home I'd shared with Erin. Had she sent it over to China on my behalf? And would she be waiting for me at the end of this journey with open arms?My inquiries were once again met with mild admonishments of, "Be patient, Jake. We'll tell you everything in time."I decided to drop it.The passport enabled things. There were eight days to go before Christmas, and I resolved to make it Chloé’s surprise present. I was desperate enough to think that people don’t turn down Christmas presents.Henri hooked me and Chloé back up again, and she seemed to have stepped back from trying to be girlfriends with me and settled for being friends, so we skied together the whole time, meeting up with my bunch here and there and for lunch. My friends, as I knew they would, welcomed Chloé into our group and discreetly. One day he again meet me and ask for the good computer technician, because his computer has some problem, I told him I can solve some problem . Because I m a Computer Science student, and have a good practical knowledge. So we go to his home and I solved ok his computer, there I meet his wife “lata” , he intro to me ,she is 29 nice figure I will describe u later. Then when ever he was out of station , he make a call to his wife and some time she can’t understand how to do what her husband said. 20 miles.”“In country?”“Ooo ... Surprise ... the cut direct ... yes ... in country,” he grinned. “Ludington is north. The Fed A is about 65 miles south.”“I have this feeling you don’t approve of the separation.”“I don’t. Michigan should be in one country or the other. I would prefer the Fed. I lost a lot of friends ... good men ... defending the USA.”Junior looked shocked, “I should have just let it go?”“Not at all ... Michigan should have voted to join the Princessapality ... all of it. That.