.. new friends ... experiences ... they'll be the best years of your life." I'll miss you and mom." For two days," dad said with a laugh. "Then you'll...be so busy and having so much fun you'll forget to even call us." Never," I whispered."And you'll have every boy in the freshman class swooning at your feet." I want a man now," I said quietly."Oh don't worry, you'll find them," dad promised. "College men will look and seem different." I want someone like you"."Hah! You don't want any old geezer. He walked behind the counter turned his back to me, it looked like he placed the magazine into a brown paper bag which I thought was strange but was too mixed up to realise at the time. He then asked for the money rang it into the till, handed me the receipt, turned and used what looked like a remote control to do something then told me to leave his shop, at this point he leaned over and adjusted something on the door behind the counter leading into the other rooms. I didn't know what to do,. They were up and ready to travel by the time there was enough light to see the trail left by the escapees. Al was a little surprised that the trail did not run straight, but wound back and forth, as if they were trying to confuse anyone trailing them. He snorted in disgust, since this weaving about did nothing to confuse him, it just tired out the escapees' horses. His comment was, "They gots to be a bunch of amateurs!"It was late in the afternoon when Al and Jed got their first big break. One. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. I would have preferred it if you two didn’t have to listen to those sorts of comments.”“Oh, Mum!” I rolled my eyes. That was probably a waste of effort, I wasn’t sure if she could see my eye rolling. “We hear those sorts of jokes every day at school – especially in the girls locker room. We were shocked before because we didn’t expect Daddy D. to say it.”“I see! I’m being square am I – an old fuddy-duddy?”I treated that comment with the ignore that it.