" She continued. "That's what we're here to explain. The Rite is many things; it is the last major trial of childhood, and your graduation into womanh...od. It is a rebirth; the girl that is you shall perish tonight and be reborn a woman." O.k." I said. "Would somebody please start making sense. First I heard hurt; now I hear [perish]! If you wanted me worried, I'm there!"Tammy laughed and said; "Don't worry about it Ali. They did this to us too. I think the whole thing is [designed] to make us. Alan held it steady as she got her bearings. It seemed sturdy enough. The room fell silent as the small crowd watched Amanda and Brent get situated. She felt dizzy with exhilaration. And love. ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Alan said from the stage. As he spoke, his wife Marissa came out and pinned a corsage on Mandy’s lapel. ‘Please help me welcome a couple of true American heroes, General Brent and Colonel Amanda Stephenson.’ There was some polite—and curious—applause. ‘Both are graduates of West. If he wanted to, he could have stayed up here for years without coming down. I’d even tried some gold panning while I was looking around. I did find some color, but it was far short of the mother lode everybody thought was here.After two weeks of looking around, I started thinking about what I was going to do with Jake’s place. It was evident from his letter that Jake didn’t want the place sold off. I had the same feelings, but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to stay year-round, or if I would. ?Oh??.hello young man??.? He said sarcastically.?Ah? I can explain Mr.Jones??..really I can???.please don’t tell Mum??..please??..she’ll kill me???.?Steve took a seat in the chair facing the sofa. ?Mmmmm??a bit of a situation here then?. He said aware that the two youngsters were now in a state of minor panic. ?See the thing is Lucy, I happen to be passing the window, over there, when I glanced in and saw you and Casanova here ??.playing around??.shall we say??Lucy looked across at Martin.