" She clasped her hands together, as she spoke in a voice drippingwith sarcasm. "You mean, you didn't mean that?! And here I was thinking,`Wow, this g...es perfectly, with the desire which woke ME up thismorning.' I kept thinking, that it would be simply wonderful to go for anice trail-run and then help some hurt stranger that I might happenupon. And if I all really lucky, maybe I can get bitched at for mytrouble!" I laughed under my breath as this woman batted her long lashesmelodramatically.. Tonight was no different; the Academy was all lit up. I'm sure all the Middies were cramming for tomorrow's test, burning the midnight oil.We were all exhausted, too exhausted for Mom to be cooking, so we went to Inn. Those Maryland crab cakes were just as I remembered, good to the last bite, I even had several cold draft beers.Dad and Jake helped carry my bags in to my old room. It had been two years since I had been home. Everything was just as I had left it; Mom hadn't moved a thing and the. The rest went into second-line containers for rendering of fat and other tissues. Much like slaughterhouses had been doing to food animals for a hundred years. Only some of these animals used to have wedding rings.Late LunchThe pizza had arrived and nothing stimulated appetites like survival. Candy being a late teenager kid had an automatic appetite. Margaret and David ate with almost as much gusto. Carol and Elizabeth were a little more restrained and disconnected. Nancy was the only one still. I was a man. I was not a woman. Iwas a man. A man in love with a woman. Too much in love with her? So inlove with her that I was losing myself? Would Grace even approve of this?Would Mandy tell her? Didn't they share everything? Could I beunfaithful to Grace in this way? She had specifically given me permissionto be with Mandy. That was different. This was me being with someoneelse. And not just someone else either. A man! For Christ's sake!Would Grace accept that I took her.