“It’s going up for auction.”“What? The town?” She said, “That’s National Forest. Can’t sell National Forest.”“It’s been in the C...urts for years,” I said. “The Government lost. Seems there was a Patent Deed issued in the1890’s for that mine we found in the cliff face.”“So?”“The claim included the town. Government chicanery,” I said. “They stole it.”“And?”“The town and contents are to be sold Saturday starting at Noon. Wanna go?”“Do I have to go down that road?”“No.” I said, “You can see the. ”“Ah, that must be the ‘niece Tracey’ referred to in your copy of the book?” He didn’t wait for a reply before continuing, “So you then decided to drop everything at the first opportunity and come up and see me?” he asked.Marina could see him smiling in the pale green light reflected from the car’s many dials.“Doesn’t look as though I really thought the process through properly,” she admitted, smiling ruefully, thinking about how casually she had embarked on this journey and with what original. .. wanting nothing more than her owners attention.My double looked me right in the eyes."You could be me you know," he said.My alarm started blaring.I jerked awake ... rivulets of sweat were coursing down my forehead. I shook my head ... and sent a few drops flying from my face.I removed the towel from my alarm clock and used it to wipe my brow. I clicked the alarm off.I ran through my morning ablutions hastily. I showered, shaved, and slipped into my cheap suit that I wore to work every. So nothing happened for a time until Alice, with a rather sheepish grin, announced, "I hope we get free soon because I'm dying to go to the loo."My wrists are quite thin and, for a while, I actually thought that I might be able to slip one out of the cuffs... but I couldn't. Alice, meanwhile, got more and more frantic. She was wearing tight pink trousers under which I could see the outline of her knickers and I thought I detected a tiny stain at the top of her inside left leg, but it may only.