She had a good look at his face and liked what she saw. He was probably about her age and in his own modest way, reasonably handsome. He had a nice sm...le and appeared to have all his own teeth and hair. Not a bad start, she thought, laughing to herself at her conceit.Eleanor moved toward her box and extracted the three envelopes from it. A letter from her accountant, probably about the final settlement with the tax man. The other two were bills; telephone and hydro. Nothing to worry about. She. We all figured one of the girls had ratted on the rest of us and my heart rate started to rocket. I was in the second-to last quarter of the line, and so I got to wait for several agonizing minutes as the nun went from girl to girl lifting the front of their skirts and checking what they were wearing. All the other girls in my class were wearing their regulation navy-blue panties; I was the only one that wasn’t. I was shaking visibly when the nun got to me, which of course gave me away before. People were listening to Kate Bush, discussing politics, religion andthe meaning of life. And at precisely one o'clock Freddy startedblabbering."Women have fat asses," he said this. "Because God wanted them to stayat home, to rest on their behinds, while knitting and cooking." They have fat asses," he said. "Because God wanted us men to havesomething soft and juicy to hold on to when we fuck them." And the finalclinch in his opinion: "God gave them fat asses and broad hips so thatthey could. When I find him, in the courtyard, I am winded. He stands facing the big round table. “'We are the heroes of our lives',” he says. “'Heroes don't run'." He turns to me. "I've never talked about it with anyone.” “You don't have to now.” “I'm telling you because you're so much like him. His name was Niko. He was a Command officer. One night he was on watch, while I was in my bed, and I was writhing beneath the sheet, close to su'nova. Niko shook his head at me: ‘You’ll make a mess’. So I pulled.