‘Aye, I find a fair fight with you impossible,’ I said with humor. Paddi smiled and bowed to my guile. There was laughter from the crowd as we cla...ped our wrists. He crushed mine to remind me we would meet again. I did the same though I doubt he noticed. I had only ever made it to the final bout once before. As before, Boris stood smiling in the center of the bailey, waiting for me. I was already beaten mentally. Beating him would be a wonderful feat, but years of being his student had trained. ‘Visiting, fixing your mother’s manufacturing system. Well mostly. It needs some parts. Someone seems to have broken one of the relays. You wouldn’t know anything about that would you? Wine?’ he asked, pulling an open bottle from the refrigerator and a glass from the shelf beside it. ‘It is only eight o’clock you drunkard,’ Josephine spit back. ‘In France, but in California it is barely midnight and conversations with you go so much better with a Burgundy than they do sober,’ he said, taking a. I hopped off the boat — another consequence of one wife too many — and walked through the fog-shrouded marina to the car in the parking lot, checked ‘in-service’ with dispatch and groaned when the light rain turned heavy. As if losing another night’s sleep wasn’t enough, I’d forgotten my raincoat, something you do in Seattle at your peril. Oh well, it’s only water, right? Just like water under the bridge. You live and learn, at least, you’re supposed to, anyway. The windshield wipers beat like. “They took off about ten minutes late, but they’re flying east, with the tailwind!”“A combination of air traffic, a landing slot, and gate availability,” I replied. “I’ve had a lot of good luck, but when it goes wrong, it can go spectacularly wrong. And I don’t mean a crash, just hours of delay. Once you get airborne, the amount of delay is limited by fuel reserves. Can I buy you coffee?”“Sure. It’s just I’m so hyped to see her!”“And those little girls over there who are sitting calmly reading.