On Wednesday nights, far away from the crazed heat and slurring hypnosis of the performance, when all was quiet and gentle and kind, Gregory would com... up to the trailer, up the lane where I lived then as a boy, looking for money, and without a smile to be found. Those were merry days and the birds sang often, and no cars came along the road all that often, and in the early evening da would watch baseball and we’d eat homemade fries and ride bikes or throw hard green apples at bees nests or. ”“I suggested she cut them some slack given the nature of their jobs, but I don’t know how much effect that will have.”“Steve?” I heard a male voice say from behind me.I turned to see Bob Larson with a grim look on his face, and Deborah, with a bemused look on her face. I suppressed the sudden urge to roll my eyes, Jesse-style, and after communicating with Jennifer with a look, led them into the coach house.“What’s up?”“That kind of behavior, with people from NIKA here, is flat-out. That seems to mean it is not John himself who is speaking, but who else could it be? A spirit without a body? The Earth Mother? What?” Numa countered, “Has the Earth Mother ever spoken directly to a person? At any time?” “Well, no, but this might be the first time.” Sheila charged in with her own reasoning.“Maybe it is the nanites in his body?” Vickie challenged this idea.“How could nanites speak and make sense, Sheila?” “I don’t know, but John has been here for a year or so. The nanites may. They finished the dance with a tight hug and kiss on the lips. It looked a bit unusual, but gave me kick too. After dancing Shelly said, ‘Today let’s share some of our secrets between three of us. Both of you have shared your secrets with me on one to one basis. But I am sure you have more closely guarded secrets to share. I also have some secrets, which I have never shared with anyone. Let’s bring out those secrets in the open. This will certainly be more interesting than casual chatting’ As.