I may be a junior but I haven’t done it yet.”“I’m a senior and I haven’t,” I said and wondered why I told her.“So how are your hands?”...she asked and advanced right up to the bed.I showed my hands. The imprint was still there but not the pain.“Ow!” commented Heather.“It doesn’t hurt.”She scanned my body. She stopped at about the middle of my body. I wondered what she looked at.“You haven’t seen a doctor?” She looked horrified.“I’m okay,” I said for the millionth first time.“Your intestine or. “I asked you out, after all. Though I was a bit worried, too. You see, I’m not planning to stay in the States. I think I have enough talent to play for a large orchestra. That requires a lot of work; it has to be my first priority in life until I make it. That’s not fair to you.”“So what changed your mind?” Phil wondered.“Your other girlfriend,” Molly laughed. “She told me that we weren’t talking about getting married and starting a family. We were talking about going out to dinner or watching. He wanted to ask her about her attackers -- he couldn't get their faceless stares out of his head -- but he didn't know if she'd seen them, and right now he didn't want to do anything to make things worse for her. He figured they could just drive for a while. Driving helped him think, helped him figure things out.They'd gone almost ten miles when Em spoke."Elves."Did Alex hear that right? "What?" Elves," Em repeated. "Daddy wasn't feeling guilty, he was trying to warn me." She started digging. I didn’t answer him but he knew I’d understood what he was saying.“Okay, let’s forget about that for now. Do you understand now why Mum and Dad have both been struggling a bit today? That fight this morning between you and Mum, for example. Mum wouldn’t normally blow up like that.”“I get it. The Parents are tired so they aren’t exactly dealing with things very well today. But I was still embarrassed.”“Of course you were. But that’s something else I wanted to say to you. Yesterday, you helped me.