‘Hello.’ ‘Hi little darling.’ ‘Karen!’ The sound of laughter filled the room. ‘Yes, it is I, alive and well.’ ‘Where are you?’ ‘...ulled back, recovering from a grenade fragment in my back.’ ‘That scarcely sounds well.’ Karen laughed lightly and said it was a fucking lot better than being enclosed in a body bag. Faith wailed, ‘Oh Karen.’ ‘I’m fine, truly. Just after taking mom’s call I received air tickets and a leave pass for two weeks in England. I’m not required to live in a military. And strangely, I was also looking forward to that evening with Frank and Mitchell.A Busy Evening with Frank and MitchellI saw Frank out in his front yard that afternoon, and he was smiling as he came up and asked, “Are you feeling motivated now, John? Jessica told me that your encounter this morning went farther than she thought it would, and she’s more than ready to take you on tomorrow. I’m assuming that we’ll see you out on the dock about 6:30 pm or so, and I don’t think we’ll need to worry. "What brings the two of you to visit? May I be of assistance?" Uh, we know it's getting fairly late, but could we speak to Jeff for a few minutes?" Of course. I took the liberty of notifying my Prime when I saw you approaching. He said he would meet you in the lounge in a few minutes. May I offer coffee, hot chocolate, or some other refreshment? If you have forgotten the way to the lounge, just follow the light," she finished even as one appeared on the deck, blinked twice, then moved on ahead. Jill had more than a little sake and, near the end of the meal, suddenly realized that this was the first trip that she and I were making as a couple. Kelly, sitting back with her years of experience, correctly interpreted the little gleam she saw in Jill's eyes and prodded me."I'm thinking that before you go upstairs, you should order yourself a plate of oysters on the half-shell."Jill and I both looked at Kelly, not understanding ... however, seeing the way she was smiling at Jill, we.