The other couple, John and Mita, said, "You are perfectly prepared for the session. Let's go outside and we will introduce you to our new buddy. He is... eagerly waiting for you." Then they all laughed, as if teasing me. I felt a little shy by their teasing, but I liked that and they knew it.Then I came outside with them, we moved towards the parked trucks. Then they stopped in front of one truck and said, "Here is your new buddy, Mr. PonPon."I was surprised to hear his name, then John said, "Both. He was looking down the balcony. I stood behind him and looked down as well. ‘I am learning, please be patient with me’, I said looking down, probably opening that part of me for the first time, ‘My mother has given me thousand lists of what I can do to fail has a wife and my dad has given me thousand lists of when to shut up. So, I am learning’. He laughed though I wasn’t joking. He said, ‘I apologize for laughing and for my earlier behavior. I will keep that in my mind, if you promise me to. The whole world seemed against us. It just happened. Now it's over, in the past. And it's better to leave it there." You're ashamed of the things we feel," Melinda said, tears welling in her eyes. Robert had been bad, but this... this she never expected from Jace.He moved to her, his face softening. "No, Melinda, I'm not ashamed. In its time and place it was something I needed, had to have to continue living. But things have changed. Four years have gone by."He reached out and held her in his. "I was born an Israeli citizen," said Tabitha. "I did my military service after graduating. I'm proud to hold an Israeli passport. And I can tell you that if we were pushed around by the Syrians, the Jordanians, the Lebanese, or—God help us all—the Palestinians in anything like the way the North Koreans do their southern neighbours there'd be a smell of burning flesh from one end of the Middle East to the other. It's because Israel never compromises, never stands down, never shows weakness,.