Let’s go back to basics and assess the situation properly.”The Basics mentioned were some fundamental questions posed by perhaps the greatest mili...tary mind of history. He wrote that these should be answered before the decision to go to war is made. It was to provide an insight into who would win even before a single shot had been fired. The country that raced to war without knowing the answers to those questions was the country that would lose the war. History had born out that observation time. It was gloriously feminine."Come over to the dresser," she said, "sit on this little stool and let me fix you up."I went and sat in front of the mirror. Linda knelt beside me."You have to be still," she said. I sat, motionless, as she took some gold eyeshadow and painted it carefully on my eyelids, blending it upwards expertly with her finger. Then she took some kohl and made a fine dark line around my eyes. Finally she took out a tube of soft red lipstick."Pout your mouth," she said. I pouted. A flip of the switch and the arm raised to swing gracefully to the starting point on the record.Carla had moved over next to Darrel on the couch. I sat back in my chair and listened – both to the music and to the conversation. Carla works in software and Darrel had a lot of programming experience, though he had moved into some solar project now. It was the reason he was here.So most of their conversation was about their shared work stuff. But Darrel was also keeping Carla amused as they got to. ..”He waited a few seconds until she was gone.“Okay, man, I’m going to leave now. I’m not going to watch this. No real man should be asked to watch something like this. Remember, just once and with a condom. She’s totally mine and for the rest of your life you can dream about this night, wishing you’d get a repeat performance. But it’s not going to happen. She won’t like your scrawny body anyway. You know ... ah, fuck.”He looked a bit upset, just turned around and left the condo.“Where’s.