"Debra tried to tell here that she had not been involved in the decisionto ask Mistress Ann not to return. Her words could not be understoodunder the...gag and they fell on deaf ears anyway. Mistress just went onwith her dissertation."First of all, you should know that the strap binding your wrists to yourneck is made of rawhide. Very wet rawhide. It will shrink over the nextseveral hours drawing your hand further and further up your back. By thetime we are through with you, your fingers. It started mid morning with a phone call. “Brian, its Peggy.” After a small pause, I replied. “Hello, what do you want?” “I need to see you. Can we meet someplace?” she asked. My heart skipped a beat. “Ok, where do you want to meet?”I asked. We ended up meeting at a Park and Ride just off the highway near Three Oaks, about 30 minutes from where I was living. When I pulled in she was already there. She motioned me to come to her car. I got out of my car and got into the passenger side of her. The only mention was one guy saying that I lived in an old peoples neighborhood because everybody moves out and lives in a condo. A good laugh had by all…but the vision in the window was still forefront in my mind.A busy night on the Ladder. A house fire, an auto extrication and three EMS runs all after midnight. It is the gig…it is what I do. My body adjusts and I keep moving on, always going forward. Maybe since I got so much accomplished at home the day before I went to shift, I can. . the famous El Marvelo fit this bill to a perfect 'T'.I asked Harriet, as the ranking Wizard in charge, to request some minor assistance from Austin PD and EMS for a small experiment, and to get BMA on 'standby'. Friday night was another very bad night to need emergency assistance, again with just a single team of Wizards on the emergency 'on call' roster.Whitaker's gripes about a manpower shortage weren't entirely just idle complaints. Once again, the cavalry was very likely to be late.