"You have been getting good with the ladies?" Doc asked me. I blushed a little and then said "not really." He seemed concerned, I tried to explain tha... I was late and was afraid that everyone else had been having sex and was good at it and if they found out I had not they would make fun of me. I was a good, best football player and I was not sure I was good at sex so I avoided it. Doc Harris did not understand this, he said I should talk to Nurse Abby as she was a girl and she could shed some. To prove that I’ve thought this through, and that I’m not acting without proper consideration, I’m going to show you something. Something I think will make my intentions very clear. It has to stay private between you and me. Promise?”“Of course.”She opened her purse and extracted something which I immediately recognized. And which confirmed that her request was not in any way, spur of the moment.“I started taking these three months ago. I’ve been taking them religiously.”“To say I’m surprised. I remember being in the ambulance and hearing the paramedic trying to communicate with me. It was a lost cause. Either my hearing was damaged again, or my body was too traumatized for my brain to be capable of processing aural communication. I was caught, once more, in a cocoon of silence, unable to participate with the people trying to save me.The ride to the local hospital was mercifully short, and I know I saw a doctor approach. By the time he tried to ask me some questions I was fading. ” She turned to Cliff, “I hope your agreement with Stiles is as solid as I think it is!”Suddenly, she grinned at Cliff and added, “Just because I own this joint is no reason you need to pay any attention to me, but I think Mr. Budd is about to be numbered among the missing, too.”Bill Stevens had looked at her in astonishment when she referred to her ownership. He knew it, of course, but didn’t know Cliff did. “How long has this young man known about you, Sandy?”“Since he was here about a week,”.