The Captain stopped and stared into the hole as we continued to depositthe strange soil onto our comrade."Well, I guess we know what is killing all th... animals around here."He folded his large arms across his barrel chest. "It seems to preferfemales."I nodded and looked past him to the craft. "How's Eric's arm?" That's why I came out here, looks like he may need a stitch or two init."I nodded as he looked into the grave containing the silver blanket thatheld his co-pilot, He sighed slowly, then. " You can always go live with Aunt Prudie and Elvis."Whether she wanted to or not, she giggled.The desire to hug her like I always do when she's troubled was hard to resist, but I managed to keep my arm from going around her. I said, "Do you want to talk about what happened?" Not really." She sniffed, still not looking at me."That's okay. We'll talk when you're ready." What if I'm never ready?" Maggie, Maggie." What?" I'm not mad at you." You're not?" Nope." Uncle Bob?"She only calls me "Uncle". Roger's aura of helplessness, his inability to stand up for himself, only stimulated her inner sadist. She wanted to humiliate him further, wanted to make sure he knew exactly what was in store for him under his new boss. Melissa checked her watch. 4:15. Plenty of time. 'Wonder how much he weighs? Any ideas, guys?' she said. A series of ever more outlandish suggestions were yelled out. Melissa let this go on for a while before eventually putting a hand up to quieten things down. 'Ok, ok, I get. And Mrs. Phillips, how are you this afternoon?" Tom said."Just fine Tom," her dad said, "How are you? Are you ready for the trip?" Yes, I have the truck filled up and my cell phone with me. I hope to get to the hotel before dark."Dianne said, "I packed you two some snacks for the ride, that way you won't have to stop and eat." Thank you Mrs. Phillips, that is great. I think it takes about three hours to get there and I know I will be hungry." Tom said.Bob and his wife went into the living room.