I looked back at Mark who was frowning in confusion. “Secret boyfriend?”I knew what Bethany wanted. Our bestie connection was white hot at that mo...ent. “You don’t like that bimbo you’re dating. Just dump her and play with both of us instead.”“Play?” he asked, obviously still struggling with the situation.“Yeah,” I laughed, the idea sounding more exciting by the moment. “Come over to my house and let’s play around while we can.”I grabbed one hand and Bethany grabbed the other, then we pulled him. I looked and looked and..... THERE! there was the house, with a young kid in the front yard, playing with flowers in the grass and Julie hanging up laundry on the clothesline. i slowed and pulled into the gravel driveway, rocks crunching under my tires. the sound of a vehicle approaching made Julie turn around, and when she saw it was me, she said something to the little girl, who i now realized as her little cousin Jennifer that i have met a time or two, and Jen ran into the house.i slowed to. " He said."You're welcome dear." Replied Kendra as she gazed at the child in her magical mirror.***Time is an enigma. For the unborn it does not exist. For the dead it stops its march forward. For the living it can be manipulated. Angels do that when it is appropriate. Even then it only affects those for whom it is intended. For all others their time remains unchanged. Kendra found that this was the solution to Robbie's problem. Just a few small manipulations of the time line of the Lambert. It was only after he figured out his own condition that he finally considered the situation around him. He knew what the smell was from. It was clearly from multiple dead bodies rotting in the still warm air, compounded by the shit and piss they'd each soiled themselves with. It was cooler than it was when he fell ill. He had no idea what time it was, what day it was, or how much time had elapsed since he'd fallen into incoherence. Clearly it was enough time for bodies to decompose, but not.