" She wasn't at all sure what he meant, but did as he said. He took her ankle in his hand and pressed her foot against him, and she felt the strange h...rdness of him there. He grinned as he slowly moved her foot up and down against him. She noticed his face was getting flushed. After several minutes he finally sighed and seemed to shudder, then he pushed her foot away and she put it back on the floor. Leaning forward he promised that he would phone her every day. A few minutes later his guards. Assuming the elapsed time since the commencement of the “event” was correct, we were less than ten minutes away from the start of the Third World War.In a matter of moments, the wall of monitors in the media center went from a collage of random images to a pulsating pattern of flashing news bulletins. The wall of monitors filled with talking heads as one nation after another raised the alarm of Armageddon’s approach.Like a bystander watching someone jump from a burning high rise, I rode a wave. So, asking to speak to the owner of a jewelry store was something Hal felt he could carry off, and he did, quite successfully. He left the store, a tiny package beautifully wrapped, and promising to tell his dad the jeweler had asked him to "say Happy Holidays" to him if the two did not cross paths during coming days.In the package, two tiny pearl earrings. Hal hoped Cindy would like them. Hal knew, or sensed, he might have gotten them at a bargain price. He realized he was right when his dad. I don't know if you remember ... you, er, your dog -- I, er was one of the, er paramedics who was here..."At this revelation Sally immediately turned beet-red. He watched her face as the confusion seemed to turn to anger, and with a frown on her forehead she started to close the door on him.Seeing the door start to move and guessing her intentions, he blurted out, "Wait! I don't mean anything bad. I, er, only came by to make sure you are okay." The door stopped. "I wanted to see if there were.