In short, he looked downright shabby, the only nice things he had on him to mark him as any more than a common thug were the spanish rapier and matchi...g dagger that were now in his hands. He just hoped he rememberd enough of his lessions to matter..."Leave her alone!" He shouted again. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" That's what I was going to ask you, she's just a Gypsy girl!" One of the men shouted back. "This is your last warning, let the girl go or I'll have them picking your tripes off. " For when... ? For when, what?" ..." Why don't you give me a couple of minutes so that I can finish making the hot chocolate, Linda, and then you can explain to me what's going on."So, after handing out a brimming cup of hot chocolate to each one, she sat down comfortably in her sofa, facing the kids and holding her own cup in both hands, indicated to Linda to start her tale. Linda told her everything, from the time when she had stripped down in front of Tom to show him that there was no shame. Turns out Alex is training for a triathlon and only just getting back in the pool (which explains why he still has a bit of a boardies tan compared to my speedo tan). Alex’s office is near the pool and he is tryin gto swim 3 days a week during his lunch break and we decided to try and catch up and swim together.This happened a few times and Alex was up to swimming 2kms (about half what he needs for his triathlon) and I’ll admit it was nice just hanging out with a guy in speedos and we were both. "I'm sorry sir, we're about to close," said the security guard."It's OK David, he's here to see me," called Maureen who was making herway briskly to the doors. "Come on Michael, we've got work to do."Maureen led Michael back to the chairs they had sat on earlier. Howdifferent Michael now felt - his anxieties were gone and in their place,a tinge of excitement and anticipation."Unfortunately, whilst the store policy is not to be judgemental whenserving our customers, we do have to be a little.