A day later, it'd be old news.Bush's inner-circle REALLY wanted to get their realpolitik back on track. The invasion of Iraq had been only their first...major step of a grander plan to control the Middle East's oil production, but it'd become horribly bogged down. Now this nonsense over a single missing boy was causing a totally disproportionate loss of international credibility and influence. A period of stability was needed to rebuild Bush's and America's ability to manipulate the world's. Actually, what they did was to keep the antiaircraft guns they already had in place and add some more cannons to shoot at me. As far as we could figure out, the Germans still thought that I was shooting bullets at the balloons and not dropping incendiary bombs, but it didn't make much difference. All they could do was to shoot at me, and it was damned hard to hit an airplane while it was diving the way I did. Even moving only about 60 MPH or so in my dive, it was still hard to train the guns on. The lines on his face seemed to have formed entirely by smiling. We entered into a discussion about our favorite books, many of which we shared. We had a playful discussion about whether Catcher in the Rye or To Kill a Mockingbird was more representative of the classic American novel. After two Champaign flutes, I was warm and loose, smiling and enjoying the harmless flirtation. I heard a woman's voice from behind. "Paul. I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's someone you really must meet." I. I have been the butt of so many jokes from everybody in the department since I got here. I thought you were just another part of my initiation," she said grinning. Your sarcastic lil wave as I drove off.... ugh!" she grunted.Willy followed her into the sitting room. Cardboard boxes were strewn unattended on the floor, some still unopened. It was obvious that Hanna had not gotten unpacked yet. She handed Hanna the roses and wine."Let me find a vase and put these in some water. Look in that box.".