“Better, we pulled out all the stops for Amantil and Grigo.”“Will keep the newsies happy at least,” I chuckled.“Probably. They’ve been off...ering bribes to anyone who will give them a sneak peak of the venue, though as far as I’m aware, the secret still holds,” she grinned.“There have been no leaks, Meritocrat Taisha,” an AI confirmed.“I’m amazed. The last I heard was an offer of fifty thousand Royals. It even tempted me,” Taisha giggled.“I’ll have a word with Manny and see if you can accept.. ”Her laugh lit up her whole face, and that made her pretty, in a rough sort of way. “Ain’t we all, sweetheart? Tell ya what; I can do ya a nice cheeseburger and fries for three bucks. How’s that?“That’d suit me just fine, Ma’am. Why don’t we do that? And maybe some coffee.”“You can drop the ‘Ma’am’ stuff ‘cause my name’s Jackie. What’s yours?“Bobby. Bobby Foreman.”She stuck out her hand and said, “Pleased to meecha, Bobby Foreman.” She nodded at the guitar case and asked, “You any good with. ET had not given up hope, but the situation was a bit discouraging.ET told us that his PhD dissertation had been approved, and he was about to be awarded his degree. However, other than a few sociologists, there was not much academic interest in his invention. Jenny and I told him not to lose heart, he still had plenty of time to be recognized, besides, we were certainly happy to have met him. That bucked him up a little, but he perked up a bit when we went back to talking about applications. So we get to play, beat the noon heat, and also get to bathe a second time leaving us damn hungry for lunch. That’s when we rush back to our homes and I get to be with Shanthi again.I would always be a little late for lunch due to my daily ordeal in the well. When I reach home everybody would have finished their lunch including the kids and be snoring off their afternoon nap. Shanthi as usual had one chore unfinished, me finishing lunch and her packing of the remaining food and putting away the.