You don't need to be."Jealousy? Was that what I was feeling? I was stunned."I'm not jealous," I protested.Kristen said, "You haven't met Will. Maybe I...ll arrange a trip for the two of us to see him in Boston. We have a nice apartment there. I promise you that you'll like him."I didn't know how to answer this, especially the "we have an apartment" part. I didn't say anything.Kristen tried to find the right words. "Will isn't you, Jim. He was, and still is, a very good friend to me. He is also my. That is, until the night that Jim Calhoun walked in. He took one look at the big girl and decided that she was the one for him. Jim really courted Dottie. He sent cards and little gifts to her, gave her flowers that he had picked himself and the occasional box of candy. One morning, just after she got to the restaurant, he came in. Dottie brought him coffee and a menu, the stood at his table while he contem-plated breakfast. Jim sat there looking at Dottie for a while, then said, ‘Dottie, are. It will make you able to command snakes and cure snakebite, just as I can. You have venom now if you ever choose to use it, on top of your other powers. You can even transform into a snake at will and then return to your human flesh. Trust me on this!” the stranger hissed just like a serpent right then.“Very well. Do you plan to stick around then, or not?” I asked out of sheer curiosity mixed with attraction and desire.“Oh, yes, I’m going to stay in town! I have to hatch our progeny, and there. Thornton loves working for you." Merry Christmas, Eunice" Merry Christmas to you"I envied Thornton and Eunice. They had family and a slew of close friends that went all the way back to grade school. And they were happy together.At Thanksgiving I had arranged with Bill Buterworth to take care of telling me what the people at the VFW in Fairhope needed. I called and settled up with him. Thornton took care of 'my' Demopolis families and the VFW families there. I sent gift certificates for clothes.