‘I cant believe we’re doing this. I can’t believe I’m doing this!’ she said with emphasis on the ‘I’m’. ‘Why do you say that?’ I a...ked. She gave another sigh, this one not so contented, and got a pensive look on her face. ‘I appreciate what you said last night more than you can know. But… but I don’t know that I can talk about it right now. I mean, I could talk to you about it and just that, knowing there’s someone… some guy… that I can talk to means more to me than I can say. I never thought. Then the lady comes outside and tells the man you was going to get 10 swats with this nice inch thin 2 feet long paddle but instead your going to get 25 with this inch and a half paddle with holes then the lady said be happy you wasn't 3 minutes late or you would be getting 40 swats then the lady said bend over touch your calves and count these swats the man bent over then the lady noticed he was wearing underwear under his blue shorts she was mad oh she was furious she said go back in and take. Leaping onto the balcony, she peered through the closed sliding door into a living room where a man and two boys sat watching television. She couldn't see what they were watching but that was of little importance to her. She wondered which of the males of the house owned the delicious smell she detected earlier. As she scanned the males in the living room, her yellow pupils fell on the boy to the right. The boy couldn't possibly be more than 16, yet he exudes an aura that outshone his father. ‘They might try to come for me,’ Eldrian had explained to the commander. ‘I don’t think they’ll like the thought of a worker escaping. It might encourage others to do the same.’ And the commander had agreed. It certainly might. So the garrison had given him a bunk in the commander’s own study with a guard to stand watch outside. The dull ache of Eldrian’s wornout body threw him into sleep soon after he lay down The next morning brought sunshine screaming through the windows. Eldrian peeled.