." Said Claire, poking me on the shoulder."Congratulations!" I told her, grinning. "Want a cookie?"Claire & I sat on the couch right beside each other... both of us watching whatever was playing on tv. She was a petite girl, standing at about 5'2", blonde, and had a slim figure. I knew Claire since we were k**s. She was the younger sister of my best friend Mike so naturally, she was like a little sister to me too. Mike reentered the living-room a few minutes later, having just ended a call he had. Coming to an abrupt halt, he set the replicator down and spoke to it."One high energy bar."A bar appeared and he cackled loudly at his own ingenuity before grabbing the bar and the unit and breaking into a run again. The energy bar was eaten as he ran and it wasn't long before he imagined he could sense the boost it was giving him.David couldn't know it, but the pursuit from Ben and Adam was falling further and further behind."He's a tricky little bastard!" moaned Ben as they lost the trail yet. They moved to the country to find that proverbial small pond. That is a hell of a lot of money in the mountains, but not so much in New York or Miami." That makes sense. But then it is a good place to retire from a criminal enterprise as well," I added."Like I said, just wait and see," she suggested."Not much else I can do," I replied. "Well I guess I will head home. You want to leave first or shall I?" I guess you should, since you have been here the longest," she said.Before I stood to leave. “Got to surround this girl with body heat to keep her from freezing to death.” And he did his best to, if not surround her, get his hands everywhere at some time or other. Aside from occasionally moving her head to meet his lips with hers instead of with the ear he was aiming at, she cooperated. After a while, he quieted and cuddled her.“Y’know,” he said, “space heaters are cheap. We’re getting all sorts of new furniture for the bedroom. We could get a space heater, too.”“All sorts?”“Double.