"Where the hell have you been?" Thad said."I told you, I was sick." Yeah, right. You had the flu. Where is the J&S proposal?" Thad said."Don't have it..." You don't have it? Where the hell is it?" I didn't get it done," I said."How much more do you have to do?" All of it." You didn't do any of the proposal yet?" Thad shouted, his red face turning crimson."I didn't get around to it," I said."I should fire you right now," Thad said."You should but you can't," I said."What do you mean I can't fire. My mother isn't one for long drawn out partings. We hugged briefly and shereiterated her confidence that Annie and I would be fine. She said no moreabout how long they would be away. She didn't tell us where they wereheading. She might not have known herself. She was driving; Rita wasnavigating.After they'd gone Annie had to rush off to a client session and Dolly wentback to the kitchen catering office. She had insisted on standing in ashousekeeper until either Rita returned or we found a. "I don't want him to marry me," sighed Gertrude, her hands covering mine and pressing. "I just want him to touch me a little bit." That's shameless," insisted Mildred."Not nearly as shameless as you hollering the other night, fit to wake the dead."I had a boner now, and Gertie wiggled on it. "You told me not to pay any attention to you," panted Gertie. "Now you take your own advice!"The couple on the screen changed partners."We're NOT doing THAT!" came Mildred's strangled yelp."Hush up," said. I expected him to start talking, but it was Quanta who started the tale that would stretch my senses and beliefs to the almost unbelievable stage."Jon, there is something I need to clear up for you before Mikey speaks. When you rescued me and my family, you couldn't have known the importance of what you were doing. I was the last of the chiefs of my people, and the rebels wanted me dead, regardless of what it took. That's one of the reasons they followed us almost to the center of your camp..