I was talking to myself, going over the things I had to do on the way home when my cell phone rang. That was a surprise since no one but my son had th... number.The called ID was registering only that the call came from Columbus. No identification of the caller. I debated on answering, thinking it was probably a blind call from some salesman. I finally shrugged, flipped it open and answered."Hello? This is Nancy. How can I help you?" Just like in the office.There was a moment of silence and I. Maybe it'sbecause the Baraandian I'd bonded with was an engineer and had to bemore familiar with numbers, but I know that the Baraandi use a base 8system, where we use base 10. Converting from base 8 to base 10 causesthe numbers to become much smaller." But everything was converted into numbers and measurements that wecould understand. They used things like miles. Was it any different foryou?" No, but the numbering system they use, even with the conversions, wasbase 8. I guess that system they. Irina laughed. "Thanks, hun, but I am spoken for." She turned to Anna. "I do like your friend, Anna." I like her, too. Speaking of your significant other, Irina, how is Katrina?"Irina got a sad look on her face. "She's back in the hospital."Anna said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Same thing?"Irina nodded. "Lung cancer. I always told her those cigarettes would be the death of her. She keeps joking by saying that if she dies, I've got the ultimate I told you so." Irina's eyes started to tear up. "I'd give it. "Oh yeah! Haha! Is that how you like it?" She smiled at me like I was joking."Um, no Mom that's not how I like it." Oh come on I'm sure you're feeling, how can I say this, awkward with your discovery of your bisexuality but that is perfectly natural." You have this totally backwards Mom. You think I realized I'm bi?"She laughed at me again, "Danielle I know you're not bi, it isn't gay when you are dressed as a girl, it's role playing."Huh? What kind of logic was that? My mother was clearly.