"Do you think we can have a home someday Daddy?" she asked him, and it nearly broke my heart."I just don't know baby, I'm going to try to get us one. ...I like this new place here a lot better than the last one and I think if I work hard enough we might get a home someday," he told her."Jim Bob, I'm sorry for eavesdropping on you and your family, but it happened before I realized it would. I was coming to see you and Hank," I said, and all of them except the baby looked at me at once."It don't. Monday afternoon I arrived home from work to find Mistressin the kitchen smiling and humming away as she put away thegroceries she had picked up on her way home. She smiled atme as I walked in and placed a perky little peck on mycheek."Go see what I have laid out for you."I went to our bedroom to get out of my work clothes andfound that I would not be getting dressed in my usualsweats for an evening at home. On the bed was a dress I hadnot seen my wife wear for some time. It was a throwback. They had never encouraged him at school, taking no interest in anything he did, even when asked to by Sam's teachers, and consequently his studies had tailed away until there was no point in him carrying on any longer. Even now, they had no real interest in him!He thought back to his usual morning routine. He'd woken at half past eight and had gone downstairs to get some breakfast only to be ignored by his parents, who were too busy arguing about his father taking the day off sick from work to. The tunnel walls were smooth. I could see none of the tool marks Xera did. I ran my hands along them, admiring the skill it must have took to chisel out this tunnel.The tunnel slopped down but ran straight for a while. Smaller tunnels branched off of it, but we didn't take the detours. My legs grew sore and my feet ached. I was used to traveling by horseback. Sophia and Faoril also showed signs of fatigue.So I pulled out my lyre and sang a song. It was a marching song, designed to lighten steps.