.."She swept into my life like a bad storm settling over a beach littered with families on holiday. An internet find, from a random dating site I'd lo...ng given up on. Turns out we have history - from the same small town, with some distant relatives together through marriage. Turns out we also have some similar tragedy in our lives - addiction, broken families, broken marriages, pain, abuse. Eight years my junior, she proved an untamed counterpoint to life I'd lived that was only slightly more. The two huge engines were gently purring now, as they pushed the big Boeing along the ground to their assigned airport gate. Barbara yawned and stretched, looking out the window at the lush green surroundings of the Honolulu airport.A flight attendant announced over the PA system that they were now allowed to turn on their cell phones and other personal electronic devices. Barbara dug her phone out of her purse and turned it on.As soon as the phone acquired a signal, it surprised her by giving. He took a sip of the drink, his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them were looking over and whispering.Obviously they were thinking, ‘That poor old couple - all they can afford is one meal for the two of them.’As the man began to eat his fries a young man came to the table and politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple. The old man said, they were just fine - they were used to sharing. Every guy there was bigger than I, even the girls were thicker than I. It was no wonder that Daniel, Bruce and Charlie had singled me out for their attacks. It got to be at least once a month they would find me and take what they wanted, fighting back was not an option. Well, only if I wanted my clock cleaned and still had to give up my butt, either way I was going to get fucked. It was on a dreary wet day as I headed home that I saw Bruce and Daniel on the corner. Just as I started to cross.