"Want to work for me while you get your feet on the ground?"I thanked him, but declined his offer. How could I live in the same house with them, watch...them send each other eye-contact messages, listen to the pet names they used, sleep across the hall from their room, wonder if they were making love and worst of all, share the bathroom with her? Didn't he know I loathed them?Ed tried again on Sunday. "Ben, I'm not asking you to make it a career, but you have more experience in the trade than the. Its just like a regular job”. Steve smiled and went to his roomI sat back in my chair. It wasn’t what I had planned but I had to give this some consideration. Since losing my job I’d had no offers. It’d been six months and I hadn’t even made it to an interview! I knew I had to accept Steve’s offer. I’d let him know in the morning.The following morning I wasn’t sure what had happened. I wasn’t sure if, in my inebriated state the night before, I’d just imagined it all. I went to the kitchen where. ”“Mary, uptimer means we came from the future. It wasn’t our choice, but someone or something, we might as well think of him as God, sent us here to make things better for the people of this time, as well as the people of our time. All the wonders you’ve seen on this boat that may seem like magic are just uptimer machines, many of which are just improvements of what you are already familiar with.”“Thank you, Sir. That does help.”Grant took a moment and showed her the lighter and how it related. He hadn’t heard from Clarence in a couple of months, but he never lost track of him. They were into separate things now. Claude spent most of his time on the circuit, while Clarence dealt in shady occupations.A wire fence surrounded this playground where several do-ragged black men battled fiercely over a basketball. It was an intense game, judging by the ferocity of their verbal taunts volleying from one team to the other. It was a hot afternoon, the sky darkening. Rivulets of sweat dripped.