After nearly a four-year battle with cancer, my mother finally passed away. I was nearly nineteen then and my younger sister, Charlene, or Charlie, wa... sixteen. As such, when I came home that summer from college and my mother was just a short while away from death, I noticed that my father's gazes were now turned to Charlie and I feared she would let the man act on his impure thoughts.My name is Mackenzie, or Mack. I am a lot like my mother, level-headed, conservative, and thoughtful. I like to. Alright," Mandy resumed before Emma could interrupt, "did they determinewhen he died?" Mandy asked."They couldn't say for certain. Quite some time ago. It was verydecomposed, they said. The police didn't want to tell us any of this onthe phone, but Mum kept pressing them. Then she was so upset she told useverything they said."Mandy waited for Emma to continue."Apparently fish ... fish have been eating the corpse. There are partsbadly disfigured. The face ..." Emma's own face contorted for a. It will mean we are engaged to bemarried. If you wear it, it will mean you are willing to acceptwhen and how I want to get married. Are you willing to do that?" "Yes. I'll do anything to marry you." She slid the ring on his finger. He looked at the sparkle of thediamond and it entranced him. "When would you like to get married? Do you have any idea?" "I don't care. The sooner the better!" She knew he was serious and said, "How about a week from thisSaturday?" He was euphoric. He was. We spent too much time with the coating to have a terrible dent put in it." I see. Is it ready for me, Sonja?"Sonja merely led the woman to the far side of the sphere, where Connie noticed a faint circular trace, about a foot and a half in diameter. The assistant pointed to two small catches interrupting the trace."See these?" She flipped them up, and at her signal the remaining assistants redistributed themselves for the coming task. Producing two small rubber plungers, she grasped the circle.