’ Vanessa took a few moments to deepen his trance that he had been in for the last couple of days. Using an alarm clock as a trigger was always a go...d trick to make sure the first thing the subject heard that day would keep his mind blissfully quiet. He had functioned the last two days in a half trance state and she thought he made need to stay that way for a while. His mind was a bit more resistant than most and keeping the alarm clock trigger in place would keep him unaware and his mind. ‘bout the size of a fifty cent piece. I saw it myself.”“They’re like the KKK?”The elderly man shook his head. “No, Ma’am. They gets White folk, too. Skin color got nuthin’ to do with it.”Meghan turned to Kathy. “Did we do all that, mom?”Kathy met Meghan’s eyes. “Yes, You have to remember it’s war. They would do the same to us. We’re not very large. The only way we can survive is doing our best to avoid trouble and having no mercy when there is trouble. I was about Carly’s age when the last war. “…So what, this is just, like, your own intuition?” she asked.I can’t imagine me implicating Milo, or even putting a possible spotlight on him, would do any good for this conversation now, so I just shrugged. “I heard through the grapevine you went on a second date with him and that things were getting serious. Passing by, hearing conversations, stuff like that.”“So what, you’re trusting what you overheard in the main hallway and taking it as, like, the truth?” she asked. “You could just ask me. We finished up a game and my friend went over to the bar to get a beer, stopping to chat with a pretty girl I'd never seen before who was sitting there. I figured it was a friend of his - when I went off to college, he stayed at home and got a job, and knew some people I hadn't met. I'd had enough to drink to overcome my natural shyness, and went over to the girl, who watched me as I approached. There was a space next to her, so I sidled in and introduced myself, saying that my friend.