..I was wondering if..." Tomorrow night. The same bar. Be there at 9." She hung up.I put the phone down shocked at her abruptness. My heart was in...my mouth and my mind raced with possibilities. I'd never met a woman so in charge, so forward. I spent the next day preparing for the strangest date I'd ever been on. What should I wear? What should I say to her? I had no idea of the answers to these questions, it made me even more nervous about the evening. But there was no chance I could. I dressed and loosened my sword before opening the door. The effete Lord Grant was fuming. His face was flushed with rage, I thought that he was about to attack me with the defoliated twig in his hand.I saw Chandra peek out from behind her door and ignored her."Well, what possessed you to attack my garden, you barbarian?" He was standing there in his robe and slippers waving that stick at me. "Do you know how hard it is to grow anything decent in this blasted town? I worked for years to perfect. Stone dead — heh. Two points, two flats, and a packet of gravel. I’ll raise you this boulder I’m laying on. Checkmate, honey — beat you at your own damn game. This heat really is ridiculous. It’s like Satan’s fucking breath. I could do one of those ‘this is your brain on drugs’ commercials without the egg right now. At least I’ve stopped sweating. That’s probably not a good thing, come to think of it. What is with the sun? Now it’s clear over there. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t get up to. But don’t worry, the next one is already written and I swear it’s dark, crazy and depressing. SS06Life is ... strange. Somehow, we’re never really prepared for all the changes and hurdles that life has in store for us. So that day in early summer, I thought that I knew myself. I thought I knew how my life would play out.I didn’t think I was gonna be discovered and become a movie star. I also didn’t think I’d win the Powerball and become rich, but I was sure that I knew my place and I was.