The retreating attacks had persisted throughout the day; the men of the search party would lie in wait, spring the ambush, kill and wound as many as p...ssible, and then melt into the trees to repeat the process farther on. And the men of the Hai Lei could move in the forest like part of the forest itself when they so needed, blending perfectly and invisibly with the surrounding vegetation.And the soldiers of the Hai Krun were no better at spotting their hidden attackers than they had been at the. I changed my shirt and put on pin-wale corduroy jeans and sneakers but no socks.When I returned to the kitchen Dad was gone. Just a few minutes later he returned from the garage holding the two bags from Hutzler’s and the one from Parklane Hosiery. As he handed them to me he said “Merry Christmas.” I thanked him and then ran up to my room to hide the bags. Moments later we were eating pizza at Rocco’s. On our short drive home Dad said “Well, boy, you got 29 pair of quality pantyhose out of me. “No, I told Your bosses that I’m Your new assistant and that You needed to take a vacation. Thankfully, it turns out that You had a lot of time saved up, Dr. Morgan, Tenured Professor of History. You didn’t tell me that You were Department Chair, either, did You, Pops?” Sarah laughed softly as she began washing me all over.“Oh, God ... I’m on vacation now? Where are the twins?” I asked her.“School, silly! They don’t get vacation from that until summer!” Sarah snickered as she washed and wiped. As hard has it is to explain and in spite of all the hurt he has caused, I still believe that he is the person I am meant to be with in this life. It is not every day that you find someone who makes you feel the way he has made me feel and as pathetic as it is to admit, I don't want to let him go. So, with that, I have decided to settle for this, "friendship."I have decided to settle for continuing to interact with him in any way that is possible to do so, whether that means I only get to talk.