Her shoulders bare and beckoning. She seemed oblivious toeveryone around her. Somewhere else in her mind. He knew that feeling. He often d...d that himself. Jake turned back to face his drink. He downed it and motioned to the bartender for another. He wondered at the quiet girl in the corner. Why was she here? Which one of the noisemakers had she come with? What was she thinking? His mind drifted to his old days. She was the type he would have gone after. He. Don’t you hang up this phone—’ ‘Good night, dad. Go check your blood pressure.’ ‘Jon, you little bastard. I sw—’ Jon pressed the talk button on the phone. He turned his head to look at his cousin who had his hands buried in a patch of brown hair. ‘I should have hung up the phone as soon I heard his voice, Jon.’ Shane apologized. He was right though. He should have. But he didn’t. ‘Its alright, man. He just needs to get off his high horse and see what its like on the ground. Down here on earth. ‘Mike, take your finger off of the trigger, along the side of the trigger guard, you remember the drill.’ Mike slid his finger out from around the trigger and alongside the weapon. Evidently this reference to his army days was something he could respond to. Chris and Cathy both breathed a sigh of relief, and Mike picked up on it. ‘I know what you are trying to do,’ said Mike his finger back on the trigger, ‘Get me off my guard, I don’t know what they taught you at SAS school but I ain’t falling. As he watched, she laid down her travois and moved to one side to collect parts of a plant she had spotted. She handed the foliage and flowers to her sister, saying, “The best herb for stopping pregnancy, Deelia.”Her sister took the herbs, instructed her charge to look after it carefully, and hugged her sister. “Thank you, Feelia. That was thoughtful of you.”They returned to their single file trek through the forest. John twigged that something about that plant would be a contraceptive herb,.