She puttered around, but aftera while, she ran out of things to keep her occupied, and she wondered what was taking Liam so long to return. He bathed ...every evening, and she usually had barely enough time to make out their beds before he was back. Suddenly worried that something might have happened to him, she set out to look for him. *********** Liam reached the creek and quickly doffed his muddy clothes beneath the light of the full moon. He grabbed the soap and waded into the creek, sucking. ’ Jack fingered his gun. ‘I only want him and he’s there, he’s always there taking care of business.’ ‘Jack you are crazy getting involved with this stuff,’ said Joey. ‘So, what d’ya say? Are you going to help me?’ Jack looked at his friends. ‘C’mon, it will be like the good old days.’ ‘Jack,’ said Eddie, ‘the good old days are in the past.’ ‘I live on the other side of town,’ said Joey. These days, I’m in bed by 9pm. My recon days are over for me.’ ‘Me too, Jack,’ said Eddie. ‘My Sally is not. Clutching the bag with one hand, Becky brought out a small bit of bird seed and put it into her mouth. The seeds were bitter, but she chewed them nonetheless and quickly felt the magic wash over her body. Before Miss Abercrombie even realized it, Becky, now a bright red finch had flown out the open window, a tiny black bag clutched in her claws. "Rebecca Poole! You come back here this instant young lady!" Old lady Abercrombie's face was a shade of red only slightly deeper than Becky's. I went in for something else, darling... to see someone." Sure, sure, you always go in for something else," he said, shaking his handsome head skeptically. "But someone always manages to sell you something while you're there. Whatever it is, you're going back into town tomorrow and get your money back. I don't work forty hours a week in the Alexander Building so that we'll starve when we're old, Kathy. It's about time you started remembering that."Kathy raised her eyes to silently protest his.