"Our Moms filed came back into the room. "Your fathers feel uncomfortable about this," Jodie's Mom said, "but yes. Tomorrow night, though.Not Saturday..."I felt a flood of warmth. I was going to get laid. Finally. It wouldn't be in some big, romantic setting, with soft lights, maybe music, and so on. But it wouldn't be done in the back of a car with a teenager fumbling for what he knew he should touch on my body. It would be done by someone with experience who knew what he was doing.There were. Beingit was winter, and only about five Celsius, it was not something eitherof us would have agreed to.I was there first, presumably because Matilda needed the toilet on theway. Being there first, I grabbed the workstation I normally used. It wasright next to the radiator, so I was always warm, and there was a greatview out of the window. In the warmer months it was always interesting tosee what was happening outside, not just with pupils, but with thewildlife. I think with the sudden cold snap. Great night.Q. It sounds like your wardrobe would have made any girl envious. Howmuch of that wardrobe did you retain after you left him?A. As much as I could carry with me on my way out the door. I was smartenough a day or two prior to order my clothes in such a way that if I wasshown the door I could sweep my arm from the left and that's where mostof the best stuff was. I ended up taking a bus with over twenty-fivegrand in clothes on my back and another four or five thousand in shoes ina. “Emmanuel. God with us.”“Very good! Gold star.” His expression wasn’t actually a smile. What was it? Compassion?She watched his face, thinking. Somehow, his presence was comforting; she felt safe, even loved. “Why?”“Your parents?”“Yeah.”“They were making the world a little better place for a few people.”“Yeah, but...” she sniffed.He laid a hand on her shoulder. “There is no safe way, no easy way, in this life. Your parents love you – I say, ‘love you’, not ‘loved you’ - but they were soldiers.