I said “I thought you were going to slip into something a little more comfortable sweetheart” “I was but thought you might think that I was bein...g a little bit presumptuous. I have freshened myself up for you.” She replied. I said “You are always fresh enough for me my darling”. It was then we had our first long lingering kiss with our tongues playing with each other’s. I was taken aback by the passion in her kiss this old lady wanted me and I was going to give her just what she wanted.I broke. Was it hard on you Leif, or did someone rip your heart to shreds?’ He watched the younger man cringe, revealing the sore spirit, broken by a stark reality. Changing the subject, Sir Glen spoke up. ‘You nearly frightened Laurie tonight, leaving Taylor outside your room. She poor girl thought she’d done something wrong.’ ‘No one under your careful hand should ever think that Sir Glen.’ Leif hefted a paddle onto its place on the wall under the dim lights. ‘Take Taylor to your room tonight Leif.. Lucy hugged Max to thank him and we drove off, not to Lucy’s house, but to see her parents. Once again Samuel opened the door and showed us into the parlor where Mr. and Mrs. Bascomb were drinking coffee and reading the morning’s newspapers.“Well, this is a pleasant surprise, Lucille…Matt.”“It wasn’t one we planned, Jonathan. We had an altercation with Donald Craig outside the diner.” I explained what had occurred and Lucy filled in the blanks, including how she was terrified until Max came. They were leveraged far beyond their ability to meet calls. They had, in effect, printed many times the actual currency by their legally authorized leveraging.Only the family farmers were in position to survive and of those, only the ones with enough firepower to safeguard their food sources from the hordes fleeing the cities, which had begun almost immediately after government services stopped.No physical attack from space could have had the devastating effect on Earth comparable to that.