"You've changed things here." Yes. When I retired I decided on quite a few changes, so I had the whole of the house done, and some new curtains. Had t... get them whilst my credit was still there with the old company you know." It's looks good. I would have done it for you, you know." I shrugged my shoulders."May have been difficult for us both." She nodded."Yes, you're probably right. Why did you retire? You're nowhere near sixty five." Well I worked things out, and reckoned I could manage well. After sitting up with a start, disoriented and scared, she found that she was back in her own bed, in the room that had been hers since her childhood. Everything looked normal, as it always had, the room was neat and clean: She always kept it that way, since her earliest childhood. Her shelves were filled with books, her school bag was stored in a corner, and her computer stood on her desk. Laura had awoken like this before – but something was different this time. ‘Not again!’ – Those words. Aside from his macho power trips, he could be rather charming. And Kristol was right. He was quite generous when he got what he wanted.At the end of that first weekend I spent alone with him, he gave me an envelope as he put me in a cab to the train station, then kissed me, and told me how much he had enjoyed himself, and how much he looked forward to seeing me again. He was almost a little formal about it, which I thought was cute.When I opened the envelope, there was €5,000 inside.I, of. "Welcome to the club," Sam said at last. That hadn't been the real reason for my sadness, but it was true enough.I was surprised however, by Sam's response. It seemed to me that "he" hadit more together than most people did. At least he lived his life with aconfidence that I totally lacked within myself. "I love what you've done with your lawn," Sam said changing the subject. "I didn't think you'd noticed," I replied coyly. He laughed at that. "Well I don't ever remember seeing a diamond.