‘I mean, she does not even understand the work I did…’ Alex let her vent in this vein for a few more minutes until their breakfast arrived. Alex...was passing her the cream when his own phone rang, his mouth curling up with a smile as he answered it. ‘Oui, bonjour?’ He said, cradling the phone against his ear as he spread raspberry preserves over his croissant. ‘Oui? Oui, ici. Oui, c’est vrai chérie. A dix heure, oui? Un moment,’ he pulled the phone away from his ear and looked sideways at. ’ She followed him to the room at the back. As she stood in front of the three-bar electric fire feeling its heat thawing her out she began to think sensibly. ‘What am I doing here? I should have remembered about the sale. I’m stupid…stupid…stupid…’ ‘…what do you say?’ She heard his voice. ‘Sorry,’ she apologised with a smile, ‘I wasn’t listening.’ Then she realised how rude that must have sounded, ‘I mean I was…’ ‘That’s OK’ he laughed, ‘all I said was that I’m going next door for a coffee. She’d never been around babies, except for her nephew, who acted completely different from her own daughter. Whenever Bernadette was around her, little Juliet hated to go to sleep, and got cranky quite often because of it. She wanted to play, and jerk excitedly and sing to her mother. But, whenever Curtis Lee picked Juliet up, the girl melted into relaxation and cooed at her father before closing her eyes and going to sleep. It was almost like magic. He could put her down for a nap any time he. She also recalled that Nineveh was somewhere in the Bible; it had been destroyed a long time ago."Besides that," continued the woman, peering into the dark interior of the doghouse, "Nineveh isn't even around any more. Doesn't prove a thing." Suit yourself--it's obviously an old pronouncement, then. I'll get you something more recent."Again, an object appeared at the entrance to the little blue house. This time it was a brown wooden box, half again the dimensions of an ordinary shoebox..