. Nine ... Ten!Susuya lowered her right hand and turned her gaze from the Beginner grade class to Zax.Between him and her floated round and similar to...the tiniest of details, ten Foundation formations, and not twenty seconds have passed."If I say that grandpa Ten is in the third realm, then grandpa Ten is in the third realm! If I say that I will also reach the third realm, then you should not look down on me just because now I'm in the Earth's Core Holder level!" She said and sulked. This young. Just then my pager began to beep with the sound that indicated it wastime for me to go to work at the part of my job that I liked best. Iimmediately dropped the vacuum and ran down the hall to the monitorroom and sat in the captain's chair. It wasn't actually a captain'schair or anything, but that was what I called it since it made me thinkof the captain's chair from some old sci-fi show.Once I was comfortably seated in my captain's chair, I turned myattention to the half dozen monitors on. "I get it, dude," he says softly, "chill." Chill." I have to laugh and can hear the hysterical edge to it, "Chill? I pull you outta the fuckin' Wicomico an' you want me ta chill?" I shake my head and try to get us home in one piece, "Un-fucking-believable."I get him home and down to the basement and drop him on the couch. I run a hot bath and turn up the heat. By the time I get back down with dry clothes and clean towels, the tub's full. I half carry Alex into the bathroom and undress him. ’ ‘Look here,’ the old woman said to Cale, ‘I think you already know that we’re just a bit on the different side. I don’t think that it’ll change anything and it’s not something big anyway.’ She looked at Rufus once again as though what she saw might influence what she’d say next while her granddaughter looked uncomfortable. ‘Have you noticed that she seems to know things for no reason?’ Cale smiled, ‘You mean more than any other woman that I’ve ever known? Yes. Why?’ ‘Why?’ the old woman.