The world remained wide but in many ways it had shrunk. National boundaries had grown porous. Europe’s greatest political invention, the nation stat...e, had been spread across the globe two centuries ago. Our expanding empires had drawn lines on maps that had no meaning for indigenous peoples, and most of those lines still remained. Nevertheless, the nation state was obsolescent as a political entity.Who’s Ms Müller? I wondered. Then I realised - I’d never heard Katrina’s surname. Or Helen’s. (I totally forgot about it.. I forgot he even wanted to do that.. I honestly thought he was kidding when he told me that all those years ago. Evidently not.) She thought about all of this as she was getting wetter and wetter. “JAMES” she yells through out the house as she tries to find where he is. He’s downstairs in the basement playing video games. “We can do this as long as Alice consents and we do it and no one else finds out about it.” It was a little after 3 am and Alice was laying in. "What?!" Josh's voice was tinged with both excitementand suspicion. "Do you mean..." He trailed off. "Yes," Jo Beth nodded. "It might help you get over itif I just let you touch them. Don't worry-" she smiledagain- "I don't mind." Josh swallowed. Hard. He then nodded slowly. "Okay, then," Jo Beth said crisply. "Come over here." Josh rose obediently, allowing his book to fall tothe carpeted floor. He then slowly walked over and satdown on the couch next to her. He was actuallyperspiring, Jo Beth. A few of the sleeping rooms in the new section had been finished, but the plan was to keep them sealed off when it was open for general access. That could be done electronically from a central panel. If the Halls wanted to have sex, it would have to be out in the open.Her first inclination was to tell Mary no, that the section would be open to everyone. That would effectively stop the sexual activity. But Mary dropped the clinching argument: she wanted to find out about Floyd and his parents..