That evening as they were leaving for the party, Mom winked at me and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "No remodeling while we're gone, okay?" Okay,"... I grinned and whispered back.That night I went right to bed and slept through to the next morning....... when I was awakened by Mom coming into my room. She had just come from her shower and had on a white terry-cloth robe and had her hair wrapped up in a towel. She sat on the edge of my bed and started talking."I was taking my shower and,. They noted humanity was struggling for existence in eastern Africa. They taught early humans about tools and fire, set up a transponder near the Horn of Africa, and left.Xhul'gar commands one of the 'Xhul's more prolific interstellar exploration missions. In 2002, his vessel returned to Earth to check on humanity's progress. When the 'Xhul marines landed to retreive the transponder, they were disturbed to see how poorly human civilization was faring in "Somalia", as the area was now called.. My cell phone rang and I answered Andi less abruptly than I had a few nights ago.“Hello, girlfriend,” I said. What a difference a week makes ... no, make that five days.“Ooo. A girl could get used to that.”“I hope she does.”“What are you up to tonight?” I had no qualms about doing my own thing tonight, though if Andi had suddenly offered to meet me for dinner, I’d probably have called off the whole game. I knew, though that she taught an Adult Ed class on Monday nights, so I just went with my. Mac was a good looking guy at just under 5’ 10” and 150 pounds, while Kevin was 6’ 1” 200, with just average looks. While having what many considered a trophy wife, Mac had a taste for trashy girls. He was often hooking up with girls from bars while Kevin was his wingman. Kevin believed that Beth had to know about Mac’s cheating, but she never confronted him.Kevin and Beth had always gotten along well. She had tried to set Kevin up with a couple of her friends, but nothing ever came of those.