" That's true but I can't say it's bad. The town is about dead, but the old mill is going to finally pay out. I wasn't here, then, but a cousin of min...e was killed when it blew." My father was killed in the explosion. My mother died not long after, and I was sent to my aunt and uncle's place."The timing isn't all that bad, as I just lost my job to outsourcing. I was thinking of taking a vacation, anyway." Well, that's the way it's goes, sometimes. If I were you, though," said the sheriff as he. "This work day started different. When Lee Roy walked by to the office shack to grab up his work tools for the day, Milt called out, "Wait up a second there, Lee Roy. You know how to drive?" Drive what?" Lee Roy asked."A god damned truck, what else? You see any teams of horses around here? I tell you, Lee Roy, if you weren't so ugly I'd fire you for being dumb. All the shovel work is about done and I'll lay off those two Mex laborers for a couple of days." Tendrils of fear shot through Lee. I put on a robe and walked downstairs to wait for Steve. I set a table for two and lit candles then lit a fire in the gas fireplace. I loaded five DVD’s in the player and sat down for a while. It wasn’t long before Steve called to say he had picked up dinner and was on the way. Lucky China Restaurant is about a ten minute drive so I’d have just enough time. I went upstairs and put the dress and veil on, then the shoes. I touched up my make-up and went back down. I made us both a drink and sat. He would have been considered a fool to not know how a maid of her age and beauty was treated by the men of this country. However, her plight must have been worse than he had imagined. But in reference with the whipping last night, maybe he was wrong to not have foreseen the worst sooner. He realized she expected him to take what he saw fit as a means of thanks for saving her the night before. So before he could ask, she was offering the only thing she knew she could. But he would never dream.