Grandpa looked over, and replied, "Sure! I only hopeI can answer. Sometimes, these days, I can't, but I'll try!" Helenathought for a minute, and then ...sked, "Do you like uncle Tom? I mean,what do you think of him?" Grandpa thought for moment, and said, "He isstrange, but I don't think he's a bad person. I mean, I haven't seen orheard anything that would tell me otherwise. Did something happen,honey?" Helena then said, "No, Grandpa. But I'm trying to think thingsthrough. We were mentioned today. Plus, she had been taking her training to a new level, and thought she could compete with the best of them.She decided she would give things a shot, spending the rest of her week training hard, but not so much so as to wear her out before the big day. Her memories went back to the race she had in the bag, until the last quarter, when all her training caught up with her, and she faded fast. Karen took extra care to hydrate herself and get a good night's sleep before the day of the race. Then,. Sam wanted to be in full command of his senses when Sara arrived. He filled his glass with the cold liquid and downed it in one, refilling it and downing a second glass. He felt much better, if a little unstable still. The watch on his wrist beeped twice to indicate the hour. Two am. Timed to perfection, the door handle creaked in the darkness as it turned, and a dark but familiar shape entered the room. "Midge?" he whispered. "Yes. Where are you?" "By the sink. Follow the wall round." . "Is there something wrong?"He was breathing hard, he'd almost driven his knees into the desk, Agnes had barged in without knocking and Ms. Rivington -- Ms. Julie Rivington, that was -- was there to torment him."Nothing wrong," he said through clenched teeth.Julie strode in almost immediately, long legs flashing through the deep slit of her gray skirt. She was all in gray except for a pink scarf tied loosely around her neck.Pete, who'd dated her briefly after meeting when he visited Steve for.