He was used to Betty's bored dismissals and never expected areply like that.I had to work fast. Betty would be back any minute. Fortunately, Steve's...lack of finesse helped. Within seconds he had asked me for a date and Ihad accepted. He would pick me up next Saturday. No; that wouldn't work;he would go to Betty's and...no, wait!...if I played my cards right, hewould find me as Betty when he went there. Fine. Now all I had to do wastalk Betty into it.He was gone by the time Betty came. As the drinks flowed and the conversation continued, Frank pulled out a deck of cards and said lets have a bit of fun. We started playing for money first and split into teams Frank and Jane against Jen and I. After about half an hour Frank and I went to get more drinks. We both agreed that playing for money was a bit boring and that we should spice things up a bit. We brought the drinks back to the apartment and told the girls that we were now going to be playing strip poker. The two girls. It is your place, one designed by you and executed according to your exacting requirements. It is manly, unyielding, covered in wood and leather, your space, your domain. It is a place I only go to clean. I pause at the door and lean my ear against the panel, listening to see if you are on the phone or on a video call. You are not. I take my time with the handle, turning the antique brass knob to release the well-oiled latch. I slip my lithe body through the small gap that a gentle push. The grenade would be used by holding it in the throwing hand and lighting the fuse with a lit cigar stub. The grenade could then be thrown like a heavy stick. I tried it out on a deserted section of the ranch and it worked very well. The devastation from the flying rocks was horrendous up close. I used rocks instead of buckshot in a effort to cut down on the range so that friendlies were less likely to be hurt. I figured that these grenades could be issued to the dragoons in the field and they.