“Shall I pour…?” “Yes” comes the harsh answer. Clink-glug-glug-clink-glug-glug. With the accuracy of a bar maid I pour 2 generous quadruple ...easures. Looking at the clock I see that it’s 8pm, time to pop over to Kats’ house. It’s only across the hall but it feels a million miles away from my dreary home. Bright colours, laughter and delicious food give me something I can’t find anywhere else. Even the family cat shows me affection. Tonight its rice and chicken, with a homemade tomato sauce.. At that time, I used to be a formidable looking guy. All of my six feet and about 80 kilos, dark hair and mustaches, and quick with a smile. (Now the hair has thinned out, but I still retain the built). After the initial meeting, I used to drop in once in a while at the hospital as if to check out one of our sick workers or to check medicine stock etc. And I used to always hope that Priya was there in the shift. We would do some formal chit chat. This continued for almost 3 months. I used to. ” The chain broke and his hand fell to his chest.He was no longer breathing. She stood and backed away. Keith caught her as she nearly fell sideways.“He can’t have my sympathy,” she said quietly. “He never understood. It’s his fault Joey did this.” She looked at the entrance to the cave. Rubble filled the opening. Somewhere under the rubble her brother’s remains lay buried. With all the people he believed were chasing him, it was his own hand that had proven fatal.“We’re trapped,” Maddie said. Anybody who had ever paid attention had to know that it was impossible to control a handgun while running. Nevertheless, the fools must have expected some good from the shooting. Maybe they were trying to herd us into a more formidable ambush, but that wasn't working.We did move a little farther apart so that we had more operating room, but, other than that, we just waited to see what the gang would do. Hell, they had guns, so I couldn't help wondering why they didn't stay back and try to shoot.