I agreed to do that, so she called back and confirmed. They picked us up and the woman, Casey, turned in her seat and remarked, "Patricia, this isn't ...your husband!" When we get to the restaurant I'll tell you all about it."Casey turned to her husband Bill and smiled conspiratorially. After we were seated and gave our drink orders, Patricia told the whole story, how Richard had been promoted, had to be away for weeks and travel thereafter. How they both loved me and asked me to be his substitute. Then a wicked idea crossed his mind and, smiling at the thought, he created four more sets of 'mini-ports'. 'I can already hear the announcer, "Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing, The Council of Five." That should keep our boys and girls busy. While at the same time it distracted them from attempting escape, after all, there was now 'advantage' to vie over. For this crowd, that was like putting out nectar for bees.' The chuckle that segued into place following these thoughts, had very little. Sitting by the phone, waiting for a call from him that was never going to happen. I did not even want it to happen. I needed a change but god knows I was not going to do it myself. Like she was reading my mind, Stacy grabbed my arm and asked in a very serious tone, ‘Do you want to go do something? It’ll get your mind off things.’ ‘But I don’t know you.’ I replied hesitantly. ‘Won’t it be weird?’ I immediately regretted what I just said. I must have sounded foolish. But not to Stacey. She is. This must have been a place private to the family, there were only two lanes, one very much longer than the other.We went over to the shorter lane, a counter separated the two, its level between my belly-button and rib-cage.“First, some rules.” Nallen made sure he had my attention, “One, Firearms are not toys. Two, always treat any firearm as though it is loaded. Three, never point a firearm at anything you don’t mean to kill. Four, keep your finger off the trigger until you are actually ready.