" Tara laughed, she knew she never wore undies anyway when she was in a skirt, so that was any easy request.Saturday morning came around and the first...thing I did when I woke up was remind Tara that today was my day, and she couldn't say No to anything I wanted.She agreed. Then, she reminded me she was meeting one of the girls at 3PM to play tennis but, other than that, the day was mine. I agreed and we got on with the days activities. I called a few of my friends and told them Tara would be. Open-mouthed, I look at the box only to realize the glow emanating from the grooves of its mosaic topology is the only light source left although the candles are still burning. Yet, their flicker seems filtered by a thick viscous curtain of pure blackness, slowing the course of light to a creep.Swing, clank, swing, clank, swing, clank…I hear the pendulum hammering against my eardrum in unison with my heart—even with the erratic skipped beats as well as the tachycardic ones resulting from the. Two weeks later I decided to take a drive and pulled the Shelby key from the brandy snifter. That's where I kept the keys to the Shelby, the Tesla and the pickup. I waved goodbye to Joe who was cleaning up the pool area and used the remote to open the garage. I got in the Shelby and turned the ignition. I noticed the gas gauge was indicating less then zero. I made a wish to the wallet and the gas gauge with pegged at the top. It would stay there from now on. My wish was to have a perennially. We found a new use for our zip ties. With their hands tied behind their backs, they were escorted into the terminal while the rest of us maintained our watch.Once inside, they were questioned separately. While we were gone, there had been a revolution but the small community had fallen on tough times. There was a shortage of men now and few were left. The woman was the new leader and the young boy was her son. She asked about Jacob. She was told that he was at our home in Georgia and was happy.