“Shh, sweetie,” she said. “It’s okay. Let me call the nurse.”“I’m in the hospital?” I croaked again.“A private clinic, yes,” she r...plied, pressing a buzzer that lay on the bedside table.“What happened? How long have I been here?”“Uh, well...” mum hesitated. “Why don’t we wait for the nurse to make you a bit more comfortable.”“Mum,” I said. “You can–” I stopped short as a horrible thought struck me. “I haven’t been here for– like, for years have I?”“Oh no!” she said hurriedly. “Nothing like. Five half- carat diamonds, I guarantee the five most pure and perfect carbon-lattice diamonds in existence. Five 58-facet, brilliant-cut diamonds, and it took me less than two minutes to think up each one of them.But it's the rings I'm the most proud of. For both the wedding rings and Melanie's engagement ring, I used my own secret recipe, 3-D woven carbon nano-tubes threading a face-centered hexagonal matrix of gold and iridium, with individual atoms of silver and copper at key nexus. . to this weird party being thrown by some of yourseriously spaced out nutcase friends." Larry crossed his arms over hischest. "Is that about it, Mark?" My friends are not nutcases, Larry," replied Mark in swift defense ofhis friends and colleagues. "I'll have you know that the members of theSorcerers' Guild are just a little bit different than everyone else. Theleaders of our guild are high masters of both sorcery and wizardry thathave taken the worthy and noble challenge upon themselves to. He looked at me and said in all earnestness, "I love you too, mom, and I don't want to stop, ever!" We embraced for what seemed like an hour. I didn't want to let go! When we finally released the embrace just a little, we looked into each other's eyes. Suddenly, he looked different somehow. He was no longer just my son. He was my lover! There was an invisible force that pulled our lips together for our first lover's kiss! We made out for about a half hour. Our tongues wrestling and sharing.