" Come on dad," Lorna laughed, "it's a buzz, why don't you try it before giving us the lecture."Biting back a retort I counted to ten and let myself c...lm down. Looking at it calmly and with a brain more than a little befuddled by booze I came to the conclusion that burning the stuff was as good a way as any to get rid of it and I had long been curious about the stuff."All right," I sighed, "give me one of those joints and let's get rid of the stuff."Grinning triumphantly Claire gave me a joint,. . no, no I'm fine, you don't have to call anymore." Are you sure?" came the gentle reply. He raised his head to her blue cheeks and broad, dark eyes, still marked by uncertainty. The nictitating membrane quickly slid over them before her eyelids blinked. Her resplendent uniform broadcast authority and confidence, ready to snap to attention at his word."Yes," he replied with surety. "Thank you, though."Her small mouth curled into a genuine smile. Her deep color softened into its natural sapphire. We followed the directions to a fine restaurant we were given by Tom's co-worker. At the restaurant Tom introduced me to his New York counterpart and co-worker Albert. Albert wasn't exactly what I had expected. Although he was younger at age 34, he was built more like an athlete. Tall with wide shoulders. The biggest surprise was that Albert was a black man. We all ate supper together and Albert turned out to be a lot of fun. His speech was eloquent. I guess it sounds silly but I half expected. Maybe a 34c?She stopped and waved her arms at me.“Its up on the table” I said pointing to her deck.“Just making sure. Don’t want to kill you before the weeds are pulled” she joked.“Yeah that would be bad” aiming the hose mockingly at her.“No no no” putting her hands up in defense and laughing.“Fine. Just realize I have the power. I have the hose.”For the next few hours we pulled weeds and got ourselves plenty muddy and fairly soaked from the waist down kneeling in wet soil. We chatted and joked.