In the abstract, Pete realized that pieces of a hundred-millennium stretch of history became the mismatched jigsaw puzzle in front of him. The continu...m of time itself had fragmented, leaving fractions of the past or future stitched into a now. Different ages, disconnected parts of different creatures, churned into a brand of lethal chaos.Sixteen girls were not thinking in the abstract. Spring, Star and Phoebe were empathically keeping the panic down to manageable levels. Pete added another. No matter how insensitive and callous his comments might have been, it was a serious thing. Yes, I understand your emotional state at that time, but everything went so fast you gave me no time to react or even say anything.” She looked sad and hurt. “I volunteered to help you from the day I heard your parents got killed. If my help was not adequate then I am sorry. Go back to Green Hell or whatever.” Sobyr looked troubled. “I came to apologize for what my father said and did and for the mess, I. All morning he worked without seeing Mrs. Williams. He’d cut everything but the grass near the pool and was starting to feel disappointed. Maybe she wasn’t going to come out today. But, when he’d about given up hope, she came out and waved to him. He turned off the mower. ‘Lunch time!’ Mrs. Williams called. Donnie went in the house, washed his hands, and sat down at the kitchen table. Mrs. Williams, as usual, had enough food for three people. He ate ravenously. Smiling, Melinda watched him as. It was not entirely unexpected looking back at it in retrospect.In more clarity, I mean that it was a foregone conclusion I would be heading out for a new assignment sooner rather than later because I wasn’t getting anything written sitting behind a desk in London just reading the reports from the field all over the globe.I had never been to Belgrade before and I wondered how the city had fared after the disgusting bombing of innocent civilian areas and essential infrastructure by a pompous.