’ ‘Well, that explains a lot. Tommy is a good quarterback. He started the season strong but starting about mid-September, his performance and sta...ts started dropping.’ ‘Oh, Coach, do you think I’m not good for him?’ you say sadly. ‘Well, this is a bit delicate, Sarah. I’m not really supposed to talk to students about these things, but, if we win tonight, we make it to the playoffs and I need Tommy at his peak performance. I know that things are much different than when I was in school and. I wriggled free of her embrace, leading my mother to the lounge room and sitting down beside us. I gave in to her ardour, replying in kind to her sucking mouth and roving hands, but when she straddled me and made to undo my belt, I caught her hands and her gaze. Visibly disappointed, she deflated, sinking her full weight onto my lap to remind me what I was passing up. "What?" Your secretary. She knows." My mother cocked her head to one side, a slow smile spreading across her face. "Oh, that.. “We show all systems set for surface operations. Congratulations on a beautiful landing, over.”“Thanks control. We’re all pretty excited to be here, too.”I keyed my microphone. “Team Luna and crew of Selene, this is Control Actual. Twenty-nine years ago, the first men landed on the moon. Twenty-six years ago, the last men visited the moon. Today, your names will join the list of those twelve who have made that journey before you. Today, you will step not just from Earth to the moon, but into. I got off, gave the bike a farewell pat, and leaned it up against a nearby tree, this time without the lock attached—though I left it, too, plus the keys. I hoped some lucky hiker would find it and take it for his own, though more likely it would a wigged-out thief who'd sell it for peanuts to feed his drug habit.I never did find out which, of course; bikes are anonymous.But I wasn't any more. Jackson Edward Carstairs walked over to the best-looking motel around and checked right in. They took.