“Don’t feel threatened honey, my philandering days are behind me. I’m a good girl now. I learned my lesson, and I’m happy with what I have a...t home.” This last comment was accompanied by a playful squeeze of my little man, spent and sticky from his recent efforts.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sue was true to her word. In the coming days, her friendship with James continued but I saw no real change in the attitude of either of them. It still seemed a platonic. I thought about it real hard. I just couldn't do it. We still fly the flag in front of the house every day. But I guess I'm just not as patriotic as you."With a deep sigh, I started to talk again."Jenny got married in the spring," I said. "I was surprised but I guess I was the only one. Everyone else seemed to think it was just a matter of time. I thought we'd be together forever. I guess he's an OK guy. I don't like him, though. I guess I always thought she could do better. I always guessed. We have no chips, though. What can we use instead?”He glanced around the room, thinking for a moment, then rose from his chair. He opened one of the drawers and fumbled around, then returned to his seat to deposit a handful of small, colorful packets on the table.“We’ll play for condiments,” he declared. “Ketchup packets are worth twenty, mustard and mayonnaise are ten, and salt packets are one.”“Ten of what?” Holly asked skeptically.“Just ten, that’s their value. It’s a substitute for. ' That saying helps a person sleep better at night."Merry grinned at me and I grinned back.We moved our new fellow villagers closer to our cave and helped them build huts close to our dry time hut. Most huts were built without solid sides to promote air flow and were not set too close together for the same reason. It also helped with privacy. Merry and Leelee had woven reeds loosely to block vision into our hut as did most of the other women with help from their men this time. Of course, sooner.