"No fucking way!" Bruce raged as he desperately tried to move. "Thiscan't be real, this can't be happening!" Oh god!" Bruce's friend Mark cried. "I fe...el something happening to metoo!"Bruce was horrified to see that Mark was opening crying now. "His nowlong blonde hair twisting and pulling themselves into pigtails."Don't be a bitch!" Bruce said with a false sense of bravado. "Men don'tcry!"Mark only shook his head, his blonde pigtails bobbing pathetically on hishead. "I don't want to be a. Two grizzled old men occupied two of the tables on opposite sides of the room, each man pointedly ignoring the presence of the other. Lifting their eyes from their drink, both men watched as he limped his way to the counter."The Admiral told me to come here," said the young man in a tired raspy voice that contrasted sharply with his twenty-two years."You must be Hal Manning," replied the bartender without a hint of welcome. Not many were eligible for entry in the club and they all came to it. I hugged her back and returned the kiss and then entered her apartment.Her small apartment was furnished very well in contemporary furnishings. Khrys told me that I had perfect timing as dinner was just about ready. She thanked me for the wine and asked me if I could open it and pour ourselves a glass. We chatted a bit before sitting down for dinner. Dinner was simple – fondue as she had promised and a salad. Over dinner we talked about her work. Before I had retired I had been in IT. "I gave up in disgust and asked for a bottle of beer. For some reason I didn't fancy a glass, so after finding a table in the corner, I drank the lukewarm, flat brown cloudy stuff straight from the bottle.I looked around to see if Deaf had appeared but no, the place was full of men in dirty raincoats, a bit like mine funnily enough, but no Deaf.It was my guess that in a dump like this there wouldn't be a fire exit so I kept my eyes peeled to see when my man came out of the john or where ever.