" Don't worry, I always lock myself in the toilet. Nobody knows."I did my best to comfort her that night. In fact I comforted her twice. The more I th...ught about it the more I understood. She wasn't just concerned about the end of child bearing, she worried about getting old.I heard an owl hooting and it brought me back to the present. I looked at my watch. 10.15 PM. Where the hell was that train? The express is never late. I looked down the track but there was still no sign. The night around. It is theprimitive, collarless, square-cut undergarment everyonewears, and Anna sees before her a youth like those whomight be within her reach – were she but given the choice.She smiles and nods to give him the confidence and Ivantakes the neck of the shirt and pulls it over his head.Anna is the same age as Ivan but had to give up hervirginity a year ago. She is betrothed to a man from thevillage, a widower friend of her father. He has demandedand been granted the right to prove his virility. Edward was awoken by movement from Mary’s side of the bed then he felt the familiar sting of cold steel as a knife cut across his cheek. Instinctively he reached next the bed where he kept a loaded flintlock pistol. Swinging the pistol towards the direction of the man who was now directly over him holding the knife. Without hesitating he squeezed the trigger sending a lead ball into the heart of the intruder. Noticing that there was no movement coming from Mary he began to fear the worst.. As the Queen wished her subjects Merry Christmas Bob's eyelids began to droop and soon he was dozing into another world where he had been invited to a very different kind of Christmas Dinner Party... The invitation card said STRICTLY ADULTS ONLY and dress was formal. Bob, wearing his DJ and bow-tie, looked very dapper. The guests were shown into a large dining hall with a long table beautifully decorated in traditional Christmas style and a big log fire burned cosily at one side. Places were.