I could see mom talking to Hassan, at the cafe tables. It looked more furtive than usual. He gave her a package of something from his stall.I extricat...ed myself and went to Mom. She was sitting with a coffee again. We had a late lunch. Hassan and his friends came and sat at the place across the narrow street.They were staring at Mom. She wore a light summer dress and you could see quite a lot of her chest. She chatted away to me, but I noticed her glancing at them. Now two big policemen were. Most of the action was in midtown or farther south. A few people walked by, but they weren't right. She ignored women, either alone or in groups. Likewise, old men were spared. Young men in groups were most common, some even came on to her as she stood there glaring at them walking past her.Finally, a lone young man came walking down the sidewalk. Looking unthreatening as they come, he was wearing a Star Trek tee-shirt under a light blue jacket, with a pair of khaki Dockers, and white sneakers.. Or arm!... length and stopped her."Apology excepted," he said. To the rest of the room, to the rest of the students in the canteen and especially to Penny, who was standing with him and holding his hand, and the rest his now very close friends he said, "Twice recently my girlfriend Vikki and I have been the victim of physical assaults. As recently as last Saturday my younger sister and the mayor's daughter, someone I'm happy to call a very close friend, were victims of attempted rape." He. While the view was nice, it evidently was not enough to keep me awake. Again I dozed off, only to be shaken awake by more turbulence. My arm again rested on Joan's cotton tights covered thigh. She looked over at me this time and gave me a little smile. “I'm sorry,” I said. “I must have dozed off.” “Not a problem,” she replied. “How long was I out?” “Maybe a half hour or so,” she answered. I pulled my elbow in tighter against myself and sat back to endure the next hour or more of the flight..