" He smiled at her as she looked back at his face, his eyes moving towards her neck. "That tattoo ... I know that symbol so well. I've seen it since I...was practically a boy. I wore it with pride myself. Your father always bragged about it to us, one of the very few parts of his personal life he shared. He was always so thrilled that you had thought enough about his service ... about him and ... your mother ... to do that. It always made him proud ... and a bit sad after he thought you were. She sat painfully erect. She had always sat erect. For the better part of an hour, the strategic placement of Vera's too-small-to-be-of-much-help purse had thwarted the impertinent eye of an elderly cowboy who had saddled himself down in a seat directly opposite her. “Old coot,” she thought to herself as the man tipped his hat to her. Self conscious of the ultra-sheer hosiery which traipsed up from her twitching toes before disappearing behind the curtain of a hem that rose uncomfortably far. ”“So, what now?” I ask, trying to relieve some of the tension between Jackie and Lauren.I have no logical reason to need them to like each other, but since Guy and Michelle seem to be at a loss as to how to handle this meeting, I feel like I need to move us along.“Now you sign your life away,” Guy says smiling at us as he slides over NDAs. Normally I would appreciate his attempt at levity, but right now my mind is a mess of questions and dread about what we’re getting ourselves into.“And then?”. I modified this story to suit my circumstances and sent it to MY Mistress. This is where I stood for months, fearing the worst, viz. END OF THE ROAD ??? ---- +++++ ----The above was written in the middle of 2009 and by now I had given up all hope of ever hearing from Lucia again; perhaps I had, in sending my ?Confession?, overstepped her sensibilities and offended her?Then, ten days ago, at night, rather late, I was already in bed, my mobile phone.