“I don’t know about that,” Mother said. “Is she really the type?”“Maybe not.” I looked at Amanda, so joyful and lost in her work, and wo...dered. The Spinners meant opportunities for those willing to grasp them, but they were also a hyper-competitive nest of snakes. “I’ll think about it. It’s not till mid November anyway.”“I noticed you got her lots of stuff yesterday, including that laptop she was pining for.” I laughed, as my mother’s words reminded me of our little adventure at the shop.. . Okay. Like for the treasure hunt ... I guess that makes sense. Was it instead of the Trilogy thing with the film strips and stuff? Since the Chinese characters are there too?”“Something like that.”“Something like that?” I echoed, dubious. “I’m not believing you again!”Heather laughed gently. “Why not?”“You’re acting funny about it. And now that I think of it, you took my Trilogy picture for the hunt on the river, when you visited in the fall. Before you took this one ... I guess what I’m. “Why the Christmas tree Sean? I didn’t think we were going to celebrate Christmas; it should have been a day ago. We’ve been gone for 51 weeks.”Sean hugged her from behind and looked at his magnificent tree. He laughed and kissed her ear. “You’ve got your time zones mixed up. We are still short Earth time by just over 16 Earth days or about 15 of ours. So, we have been gone just over 48 Earth weeks, not 51.”“We haven’t been gone a full Earth year yet, we are still short by about twenty-three. "Well, I've been thinking about this bike-riding stuff a lot since I've been flat on my back; and I've been talking about it with Sandi, and we decided that we've pressed our luck long enough. I want out, Lar. Especially for Sandi's sake. She's been so great since this happened - getting that good job and all, and driving all the way in to Gary to see me every night when she's been working all day. I've promised her if I pull through this operation, then I'm getting a job where I can spend more.