"I went out with the guy one time. It's not like I'm dating him or anything." Ah, but, Maddy, even one date with Phil Anderson shows me how far your s...andards have sunk over the years," I teased. Phil works for me and I know what a sleaze ball he is."It's not that my standards have dropped," Maddy said. "I had to go to that damned dinner. I'd have been the only one there without a date and you were out of town. I'd have probably been a lot better off going by myself though. Phil made a real ass. "No! ... Not enough time for a full-scale adventure - I know both you andBarbara need to catch up with work sometime this weekend." Sheila gazedat me enquiringly, and I fell into her trap."Ok, you'd better summarize your plan - I need to get this documentpublished before we leave today!" Well, Fifi, you know how Barbara has this hang-up concerning you andwater...?" BARBARA has a hang-up! ... Let me tell you, Sheila that FIFI has a hangup about BARBARA and water!" I retorted, and Sheila hugged. " Peter, please," Valerie scolded.Daniel Rawlings leaned forward. "I'm proud of you girls for what you did. That was very brave. A little foolish to do it by yourselves, but brave nonetheless."Brianna had tears in her eyes now, and her mother produced another tissue."Thank you, Brianna," Merrigan's mother said, as she patted Brianna on the knee. "That you would do this for Merrigan and for these other girls even at such great risk to yourself ... That's a sign of real friendship and. He says that there must have been a volcanic hotspot under the island at one time, which of course generated the caldera which is now our lagoon. However, he points to the other islands to the southeast. Each one is a little bigger and five islands away is a very active volcano. That is where the hotspot has migrated to, so our island is now slowly returning to the ocean. Or would if we don't try to keep it up. Confed tech assures us that we'll have the island for thousands of years.I do so.