Breaking clear of my own navel-gazing for a moment, I looked at the others, trying to read their reactions. Grace seemed to have mixed feelings, her e...pression mixing fear and apology. Sue just looked sad and tired, finally resigned to the news she’d first heard weeks ago, now proven true beyond all doubt. And Francis’ face seemed to be a poker face, showing little or no emotion. An experienced oncologist, accustomed to remoteness and emotional detachment. At least that’s what I thought I saw. She was thrashing about mumbling something. I turned and cradled her in my arms, whispering that she was fine. She woke panting, telling me she had a bad dream. I held her and told her she was safe. It was all a dream and to go back to sleep. I started to let her go, but she grabbed my arm asking me to hold her until she fell asleep again. I gave in and held her to me. She turned onto her side and scooted her butt into me, laying my arm over her. She wiggled in tight to me. I lay there against. She walked up to him giving him a hug. He said he enjoyed how nice she smelled, and how long her hair was. He took a step back to admire how she looked and raved about her rare beauty. He extended his hand to the front door welcoming us inside. Once we got into better lighting Bart stopped and said that photos did not do Solitaire justice on how truly beautiful she was in person. She smiled and blushed. Bart offered us drinks, we declined kindly. We sat and talked for awhile. Some things. Apart from him, I hadn’t seen anyone with a good combined offense and defense; they were either all one or the other.My next opponent was mainly a good defense, he had used counter strikes in his first bout to win, but against me, my defense while still attacking was good enough to stop his counters. I took time making my points, making sure I got a point or two while maintaining my defense was tricky, but maintaining balance was paramount in a fight like this.By the end of the bout, I had.