“Welcome! Welcome! I’m glad you guys could make it out for the weekend. I had a few friends stop by, and we decided to make a party out of it. I h...pe y’all don’t mind.” Both Tim and George shook an answer of no, but neither could wipe the giant smiles off their faces.Uncle Justin leaned in toward the two, whispering, “Don’t worry, they ain’t here all night; just a little party then, afterwards, we can get together and go over some stuff.” Uncle Justin backed up, and the volume in his voice. " You agreed and we dried the stuff up with some Kleenex lying under a pillow and. soon fell to sleep. If you remember my parents called early the next morning and we didn't get talking about it but on stay over we still liked to do the same thing.Then I said to Terry We were either busy at school, playing sport, or chasing girls, usually unsuccessfully ! That's until last year when we were both invited to your sister's friend's birthday party, s*******n, just like ourselves several months. Better than that, Earth had joined the Federation last year. That had been an accomplishment he thought he would never live to see. The seeds the Bards had sown took a while to take root, but take root they had. Some of the growth pains involved in the seedling stage hadn't been pretty.The message had been one of peaceful coexistence, but the evolution it required to reach that point had been sometimes more than a little violent. It had been particularly bad in the Middle East. There were still. So I supposedoes my sister butshe doesn't care.What they don't know isI tape my anklestogether, my knees,swim mermaid stylehour after hour... I've seen they sell beautifulplastic mermaid tailson the internet.If I could get one of those... Beneath were these words:When I saw about Living On Land and poems and read your stuff I thought you would understand so I sent you this, only it's not fiction it's real so don't publish my name or email PLEASE!Intrigued, and wishing to publish the poem – it.