She cried in my arms but told me that Cherie had said the same thing to her some weeks before.She said, “I’m sorry, Goyse. I didn’t mean to hurt...you. I’ve just been trying to make up for doing it.”“You haven’t hurt me Marg. It’s just that you have started to dominate my time and this is taking me away from my partner who I love and it is taking you away from your partner who loves you.”“You don’t understand, do you? I’m not sorry for what is happening now, I’m sorry for not allowing you to put. ”“Oasis. Kansas City.”“Right. Second subject. Rags Reston ... well, he has a tell. When he thinks something is serious, his voice lowers, he gets quieter.”Connie waited.“Rags was a little more talkative than usual. There’s some FreedomRider buzz. Excited chatter. Some big event. No details but I heard one guy in Billings say, ‘About time. The world will sit up.’ And this is even a wispier scrap, the code name of the operation, if there really is one, might be KZ.”“I’ll get back to you.” This. She quickly stood up and stormed over to her chest of drawers. Mary violently yanked the drawer open nearly pulling it completely out of the dresser. Damn it Mary do not fuck this up; she mentally chided herself.Suddenly, Mary's bedroom door burst open. A young nubile blonde girl dressed in a Captain Marvel t-shirt stood grinning from ear to ear. "I knew it! I told John you would be nowhere near ready!"Mary tried to reply, but the embarrassment of the situation caused her voice to catch in her. "Big beast. Nika see beast." Where? Show me?"She took him by the hand and guided him to the window where she pointed outside with her finger. He looked out through the window - that had fascinated her so much the first day she had looked through the plate glass - trying to discover what had scared her so much. At first he couldn't tell what she was pointing at since he couldn't see anything unusual there."Look, see." She was pointing at his car. He had parked it in front of the cottage instead.