The dealer said it would be working on the come out and I agreed. That bet pays 10 for 1 and Mr. Beautiful threw a four-four on his first roll!"Hard e...ght," I screamed...and without thinking twice I said, "Parlay that." That gave me $250 on the hard eight. I turned to Sandy to explain what I was doing--which was pretty outrageous by my betting standards--and I wasn't even looking when I heard the dealer say, "Winner eight, it came the hard way."I whirled around and added my voice to the. "She's OK," I replied, thinking that actually Aroha wasn't bad at all, a part Maori girl with a lovely figure courtesy of her Pakeha (not Maori, usually European) mother."She wants me to ask you if you'll go out with her," Tracey admitted."What?" I asked, confused as until twenty seconds ago I didn't even know that Aroha liked me."Go out, you know, date, make out, root, marry, have kids etc." Tracey giggled."Action packed holiday that will be," I joked. "Besides, Benny's told all us guys that. ‘Does it feel different than the cane we have?’ my friend asked me. ‘It sure does!’ I answered. ‘Well since I like to always give you ‘six of the best’ with the cane, I will now give you four more strokes. Be sure and count them,’ my wife said. Tap, whistle, SPLAT! ‘Three, thank you, ma’am,’ I said. ‘I see you have him trained very well,’ Jane remarked. My wife kept caning me until I had my six strokes. At least, being secured down like I was, it made it so I wouldn’t get additional strokes for. Miranda shifted her position but didn’t wake up. The creature moved one of its bendable antennae closer to Miranda’s ear. Then, with a nearly imperceptible movement, the proboscis entered her ear, careful not to disturb her. When everything was ready, the bug emitted strange microwaves that dispersed within Miranda’s skull. The electrical signals that normally travelled through Miranda’s brain began to change. New neuronal connections replaced the old ones, creating new patterns of behavioral.