Hey, I'm young, virile, hung and just cocky/stupid/crazy enough to think I had a shot. "I'm serious. A bunch of borderline anorexic blonds? Or a gorge...us woman who I wouldn't have pegged a day over thirty? No contest." She blushed, I pressed, "If you were single, I'd do you in a heartbeat." She looked at me and said, deadpan, "What if it didn't matter that I was married?" Swing for the fences, "I last considerably longer than a heartbeat." She paused, I thought I'd pushed it too far. Until she. .. I’d been pushing cattle since I started college but he wouldn’t hear of it.”“May I use your phone? I need to call a friend.”“Sure,” he unlimbered a covered device on his hip. He held it with one hand and entered a series of numbers. He handed me a bulky heavy box with a rod sticking out of it. It had the standard pushbutton front of the normal kitchen wall phone and a several extra rows.I had never seen or even heard of such a device.“Hold it to your head like a normal phone.”I did.It buzzed. His whole body felt like it was bathing in warm wine, and while he was so exhausted that he couldn’t move, he did feel more rested than before he fell asleep. He looked around, having only the strength to move his eyes. He was lying at the base of a tree on a bed of moss, as soft as a pillow and covered in a sheet of some mysterious material that was as smooth and flexible as water, but did not feel like it was made of animal skin or a natural fabric. It looked like it was made of woven straw,. Perhaps Alice was right. Perhaps he was in love with Kathleen. Then what? Should he tell her? And if she said she loved him, as Alice believed, what should they do? Marry? What would Father and Mother say? Suddenly life at the front became easier. It was black and white, life or death there. No grey area. McTavish found him pacing beneath one of the ancient oaks and handed Charles a note. ‘It is from Mrs. Williams, sir,’ he said. ‘Why, thank you, McTavish. Here is a coin for your effects..