"Hello, Mrs Gardner," he said. "I wish we could have met under happier circumstances." Ellie MacIlroy," she said. I'm not Mrs Gardner anymore."Nick to...ok her hand and squeezed it gently. "I can understand that," he said softly."He's tall," she said to Sally."Yup," said Sally happily."So you plan to marry my Sally," she said to Nick."Yes, Miss MacIlroy."There was a squeak from Sally.Ellie took no notice. She looked piercingly at him. Nick knew the look from Sally and was not the least. Jerry led them to a table right in the front of the stage and called outto a half naked young lady to bring them all some beers. Chrissie staredwith an open mouth as the young lady came over and began passing out thebeer. She looked old but young at the same time upon closer inspection. The waitress's makeup was thicker than Chrissie had ever seen on a womanbefore but what she really noticed was the tired look in her brown eyes. Her pert breasts were only covered by two sparkling red sequined. ”I relaxed for a moment before it occurred to me. “Is everyone else all right?”“No, you and Jen are not the only ones in our family staying in Hotel Antiseptic. Christy got hit, Shaggy got hit, nothing major but they had to have shot removed and they’re resting right now. You’ll see them tomorrow.”“How’s Gram?”The room got quiet, and I knew. Fat, slow tears started rolling down my cheeks. This was so wrong! She deserved to go quietly, among family who loved her and rejoiced in her long life,. Five years before all this started our 71-year-old long lost grandfather moved back to our sleepy little Texas town and retired. We all tell him he doesn’t look 71 even if all his hair is white. He had been a big-time performer in Las Vegas with his own magic show. He has all kinds of interesting stuff and stories to tell. Eric practically lived over there for a while, even our mother Linda stayed over there a lot too.Anyway, Eric has always been into karate, the martial arts, and on the.