Since the mayor had no real authority other than holding the gavel at the meetings, she had no objection, either.The one real question at the meeting ...was whether to take bids on a new street sweeper or try to repair the old one. A new street sweeper had been budgeted the previous spring, but there were a couple councilmen, Warner included, who protested the city could save some money if they fixed up the old one. Emily had more or less made up her mind to keep her mouth shut until she'd learned. "What do you mean?" they said together."There are 2 big boxes back at the house. One is marked 'Tia', and the other is marked 'Kai'. In each box is a sample of all the fireworks we shot off last night. They are all for you 2 to shoot off tonight."The 2 Polynesian girls jumped all over me, hugging, kissing and groping. "You're the best, Sir!" Kai gushed.I nodded. "There's even one of those big Gettysburg things."Lisa nodded her head. "That was very nice of you." I just remembered how it sucked. “You are filled with guilt, you loath yourself for being unable to save your sister, so you disassociate yourself from that perception of yourself. You become what you think will protect you from the pain, and in the search of that bastion within yourself, you wonder how the monsters that brutalized and killed your sister can do such a thing, the only answer of which being that they feel no guilt. And so you mirror them, even without being aware of it. You hate them and you hate yourself, so. I'm so sorry for that. More than you can imagine, I think.In any event, I have no guilt or regret for what was. Only fond memories and love. Always love. You saved me from myself once and one day I hope to repay that debt, if you'll let me.Your loving little brother,IkeI sealed the envelope, addressed it care of my father and gave one of the nigh medtechs five dollars to mail it for me. No way was I trusting it to the military psych censors.The next morning I attended my first 'group'.