These were no gentle Centaurs of the upper valleys. No, these were the Gespil Centaurs, small, strong, but magicless Centaur warriors who still someti...es plague the lands of the Maple region.They fell upon us in our sleep. Crossbows aimed with silent accuracy felled our menfolk before they could even shout a word. It was a most silent brigandry. More than half of our men were dead before an alarm was raised. My mother fought them off, seizing father's sword and slashing at them. It was to no. Cops show up after being told there’s a big black man on the premises. I’m dressed in black, it’s nighttime, and I’ve got something in my hand. A book. Yeah, I could have been shot. I can just imagine the headline on the Metro or the Ottawa Sun newspapers the next day. Unarmed Black man shot by Ottawa cops was overnight security guard. Stephen V. International student from the United States taking Law at local University. Awesome. Yet another unarmed, innocent black man shot by racist,. I bit my bottom lip and my eyes widened. She smiled at me and calmly closed the gap between us. Not a word was spoken as we both just checked out each other's bodies. It lasted for about three minutes before her right hand slowly made it's way onto my cheek. She caressed it. "I know this might be out there, but have you ever thought of being with another woman? Letting him see you with one or just inviting one in with you two? If you did either of those, you might make him want you forever. He. But now I see it for what it really is and then I was just one of the robots. It is as if I was asleep and now I have woken up. That's it. We are all sleepwalkers, just waiting for something, or someone, to wake us up.' "This was the more or less rational part of what went through my head that night. Gradually a sense of unadulterated certainty, like nothing that I had ever experienced before in this uncertain world, took possession of my brain that this night would be my last night on earth,.