A dull ache still throbbed in her bruised loins and she tried vainly not to think about the cause of it. The memory was impossible to evade, though, a...d she found herself realizing all over again that she had actually betrayed her own husband behind his back. She had allowed another man, a low class stranger, to seduce her and had actually responded to the debasing experience like some cheap whore whose existence depended upon the presence of a hard male penis between her legs. The slight. She decided that her mother and Dutch were either in bed or over at her grandmother's bar having a couple drinks. Thinking about Marlene and wondering why she had allowed herself to make a movie like that, she poured herself a glass of milk, reached into the cookie jar for a chocolate chip cookie, took a small bite and then drank from the glass. She repeated the process until both the milk and the cookie were finished. By this time she had put Marlene out of her mind and was thinking about. It was her being lost in thought about this that made her run intosomeone. She apologized quickly before realizing it wasn't just a singleperson but an entire group. Over the heads of those in front of her Arielspotted a glimpse of the people in the middle. There were, from whatAriel could see, three of them, all in dark black robes, all sporting astrange symbol on necklaces that hung from them. From her spot Arielcouldn't see their faces clearly, obscured by the shadows of their hoods.They all. ’ Over at the bar a barman rang a bell and yelled, ‘Last orders, if youplease.’Luke looked at his watch and decided it was time to get going. He hadordered a minicab for 11 o'clock and he didn't want to miss it. Shakinghands with the guys, and kissing the girls’ on the cheek, he said ‘MerryChristmas’ to everyone and pushed through the crowd to the door. He wassurprised to see that snow had started to fall whilst they had been inthe pub. He thought it had been a good idea to book a minicab.