Kirsten, talking to Pam, was in the crowd waiting for the door to open. Go say hello to her, prompted Ursus. I didn't see how I could make the situati...n any worse, so I did as Ursus instructed. "Good morning, Kirsten, Pam."They returned my greeting. Pam giggled, which I found a little disconcerting. Kirsten asked, "Did you like the square dancing yesterday."I felt Ursus steer my gaze away from her shoes and aim it at her face. "I felt kinda awkward, and we didn't actually get to dance, but I. They said that they needed a break, and had booked themselves a holiday. For a moment, I got all excited and wondered where we were off to. And then they told me. I was going to be shipped off to Grandmas. Id never been particularly close with my Gran, but that wasnt what bothered me. She lived alone, in an apartment three hours drive away. There would be nothing to do, and no-one to do it with. Of course, all my whining achieved exactly nothing. And eight days later, I sat morosely on Grans. "Great." Paul muttered. "So much for surge protectors."Before he could move, he saw the monitor flick back on with the words: FICTIONMANIA.COMWritten in big, bold letters across the screen. "What's this?" He saw back down and read the list that was presented to him. DOWNLOAD IMAGES ENTER VIRTUAL REALITY VACATIONS STORIES SELECT CHAT CHARACTERS SEND E-MAILAs Paul put on his virtual reality helmet, he reached over his head, he reached for the keyboard and hit the enter key. An electrical surge. I found a sheltered spot in the gazebo, warmed by a propane heat lamp for the hot tub area, and stared through the patio doors. What I saw was awesome. If I had a camera, I could make a mint of the faces I could see inside. At the moment, I didn’t even have a cellphone. Two public officials who ran hard-fought campaigns in November, the president of a major regional bank, and what looked like the entire board of directors of a technology company I owned stock in. The annual report came out in.