I was twenty-four, Alexis twenty. We were alone in the world.The house felt empty, dead, lifeless. Without the sparkle of Mom's personality or the big...er-than-life bluster of Dad's presence, the house seemed frail, dark, and lonely. Alexis moved mindlessly, searching through cupboards and the fridge for the makings of a dinner despite our lack of appetite, almost as if it was a duty of the living to cook and feed.I drank. Three scotches. Dad's fifteen year old Scotch. Memories haunted me. The. Some 10 minutes later she walked back into the bedroom, totally naked, then walked over to the bed. She was still walking slowly.Jenny climbed back up on the bed on her hands and knees, then leaned over and kissed me.One of my hands immediately reached between her legs and began fondling her sex, before I pushed two fingers inside her. I could again see her wince a little.“Don’t start something unless you are ready to finish,” she said, then leaned down and took my penis in her mouth.“Why don’t. Time for Precious.Lizzie said that we should go to the downstairs bar. Sheldon might bein there. They sat on barstools in the downstairs bar. It was whereLizzie had sat last week. They ordered a couple of drinks. Madison wasstill on soft drinks. They sat there chatting away for about 10minutes when a black guy came into the room. He looked around andseeing Lizzie he smiled and came over to us."Sheldon, this is my friend Madison," said Lizzie as she stood up andkissed him on the cheek. I stood. They know him from previous postings or from the grapevine. Many commanders feel these patrol checks aren’t dangerous and are routine, but he never sees them that way. He doesn’t exactly run them by the book, but he does ensure full security and safety in doing them. Instead of two open field combat cars, mistakenly called Jeeps, and a troop transport he’s using one Jeep and two transports. He justifies the changes with better fire power, combat flexibility, and the ability to safely remove.