‘Stomach virus. She needs to rest.’ ‘Oh, the poor thing…and you’re not staying there with her?’ ‘Well, I would, but…’ I trail off wi...h a sigh. Barbara rolls her eyes at me, and keeps on going. ‘And why haven’t you slept in two days? Were you staying up with her? Are you sick, young man – you need to rest if you are!’ Barbara is about to continue when Nightwing surprises me by gently tapping her on the arm. Barbara looks at her, and the dragon gestures for her to lean over. Nightwing whispers. I kept trying to educate her to the finer points of that genre, but ... what can I say? She still thought that it was a tossup for best group between Fleetwood Mac and the London Philharmonic. She tended to favor the London band, 'cause they had better material: Beethoven, Bach ... you know.We'd gotten to the lobby of Dolly's theater in the late afternoon. I looked at the life-sized wax figure of Dolly they had on display. Apparently, it was as close to the real thing as I was going to get,. "I wanted to confesssomething to you." Whatever it is, it can't be that bad," I said."Not really bad. Just awkward," Andy replied. "You see, you've alwaysbeen an inspiration to me." Huh?" I was confused now. Finished filling the glasses I turned toward the table."I know about you, Mr. Ryan. I know about your dressing as a woman." Ifroze and dropped a glass. Instantly I felt my face burning."OH fuck," I blurted. Then looking at the mess, "Shit." Andrew jumpedup to help me clean up,. Our observer was a girl, with skin the color of heavily creamed coffee and huge black eyes. She came out of the robe like a house afire, displaying an expertly made chert knife. I held up my hands and backed off a couple more steps. She was tiny, no taller than 4 feet 7. She spoke."Why are you here, in this place? This is the summering place of my band of the People."I understood every word. The Powers that Be had promised we would understand and speak every language without accent."We have.