She was being enigmatic, again. She always had a dozen plots going on in her complex mind. He knew she would reveal whatever she wished when she was r...ady to. He also knew why she was here and believed he knew what she wanted from him. He watched as she gazed into her coffee, checking on the progress of her melting ice cube. Then, putting the cup to her lips, she drained it, ice cube and all. He heard a small crunch announce its demise as she crushed the remnant of ice with her teeth.Tonight,. ”“I will. Also, I decided not to go to my graduation ceremony. I just don’t think I’ll be comfortable in what amounts to a tent of a graduation gown sitting in the hot sun! Brian agrees.”“OK. Your degree really was always just a formality in your mind. Congratulations on graduating!”“Thanks!”We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up.I checked my watch and saw it was time to leave to meet Ailea and Elliot for lunch.“Almost done with your third year,” I said when we sat down at Venice Café. “How does it. Her birthday is that day so it is perfect.Owner: How old is she anyway?Hubby: Forty - 41 on Wednesday.____________________________________Nan: What no sex for three days before my birthday? What kind of present are you giving me?Hubby: It will be a surprise honey – but I am sure you will like it. I will say we need to get a motel in a city a couple hours away for that Wednesday night on your birthday.Nan: How about a hint. Is something going to happen at the motel or are you taking me to a show. The mission planners had supplied us with plenty of titanium alloy, not knowing what resources would be available at our destination, but they shipped it as reels of cable so it could be melted down easily for shaping into whatever we needed to make from it. We didn't bother. The cable was ideal as reinforcement for the plastifoam."Henry was a storyteller, and he was in his element. Had he been in gravity, he would have been pacing. Here, he swung absentmindedly from cord to cord, using feet.