"Courtney!" she almost screamed.The woman waved a hand weakly, and then rose to her feet before noticing the other form at her feet. "Wa... wait," she... said. She leaned over and began pulling the prone figure towards the circle's boundary. Another pop sounded overhead, and again I felt a queer sort of twisting sensation inside me as I heard it. The firefly-type sparkles inside the semi-sphere were increasing in both size and frequency, so that they now appeared to be little glowing worms,. Her shift was from noon until nine, Tuesday through Saturday and she got Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off on every fourth weekend. Seven months went by with Velma making some very good money, mostly in tips and then her days started to get longer and longer. At first it was until ten, then eleven, then midnight, and finally she was working until closing on some nights. She said Cliff was having a hard time finding good help and she was making good money working the extra hours to cover. She walked at a relatively fast pace through the entry hall to the reception area of the hotel. It wasn’t an upscale hotel like the Fairmont or even one close to matching the likes of a Hilton or Hyatt, but it would suffice. The lobby was clean and bright with a mid-size, round, highly polished wood table in the foyer as a focal piece, with a large non-descript vase placed on it filled with fresh cut flowers. She approached the reception desk and a woman wearing the standard hotel issued. He didn’t respond. It was as if I was pushing a bag of cement. “Nick, its 9:40 a.m. do you want to get up?” I asked. Nick began to stir and mumbled “Really? Okay, I’ll be down in a few. Go ahead down.” I proceeded down to the kitchen and contemplated my choices for breakfast. I decided on a highly nutritious breakfast of orange juice, Pop Tarts, a banana and Cocoa Puffs. Nick came staggering into the kitchen and asked if I knew where the coffee was kept. He poured himself a bowl of Wheaties and.