..”My insides sank as realization set in. I took a few unsteady breaths, wondering how much I’d have to tell them.“Did you just talk to Frej?”...I asked.“Yes. Mom is still on the phone with him. But when we mentioned how you weren’t yourself these last few days, well ... I have a feeling you know what I’m about to ask you.”I closed my eyes. “Yeah.”“Is there a reason you didn’t tell us?”A reason ... There’s plenty of reasons... “I don’t know.”“What is...” Melissa paused, rethinking her question.. "He'll not be able to sit down for a week. Who'd have thought it - Larry seemed a kindly sort."Now there's something I should explain. Ever since we were married I had got into the habit of smacking my wife on her arse during sex. It's a long story, but it had grown up as a thing we did and which she had come to accept, and even expect. The trouble is that she didn't particularly relish it, but I never beat her sadistically and I had found that it excited me a good deal. It kind of became part. Again, one was shot down, one impacted in a deserted area of the air base, and one hit in downtown Adana a few miles away. Again, there were no chemical weapons signatures detected. Israel was targeted by six missiles, and the Israelis managed to knock down two of them. The other four landed in what appear to be relatively uninhabited sections near Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa.”“Four? That’s all we got? Four?”“That’s way better than we did the first time, sir, back in ‘91,” she answered. Pow! “Nummmmm.” DUNT Pow! He hit her in the same place again. “Ha-uh-uh-uha.” Miriam felt as if there were ants running up and down her legs. DUNT POW!!! This time Master Cyclone gave her an even harder shot to the same spot. “God,” she panted. Master Joker was standing in front of her, she realized, pulling down the zipper at the front of his costume. DUNT CRRR-AAAA-CCCKKKK!!!!! Master Cyclone hit her with what felt like all of his strength. He had switched back for the last blow,.