“Yes, but you need to do me a favor. You need to let me know what costume I’m going to wear before Halloween.”“OK.”She went running to find ...Mom. I was screwed. The rest of the day was spent resting with no issues from mom.The beginning of the week started out pretty good. I was happy that I was no longer taking the bus.My running was back to about 7 miles a morning, I’d gotten it down to just under 9 minutes a mile. That was a brisk pace that I probably could have kept up for another 2 or 3. “If his Majesty does not wish a report, I can certainly leave. I have no doubt my skills can be better used elsewhere.”Cailan winced and modulated his tone. “That’s not what I meant. You’re from Bann Teagan’s battalion, yes? Why are you all here? You’re supposed to be protecting Redcliffe.”“The darkspawn never came. We waited, and I scouted very thoroughly. There are no darkspawn anywhere near Redcliffe, your Majesty. Bann Teagan thought we could be more use here than protecting the village. Moments later he dropped into the game.“Kev, where are you?” Despite being in the same room, he used the in-game communications to speak.“Going up the ridge,” he said. “Come up on the left and meet me at the choke point.”Slipping into the game, Josh’s muscle memory ran his avatar to the ridge. It was easy to get immersed in the flow. The audio and visual cues from the game had become so familiar he let his virtual body fight while his mind disengaged.It had been five days since Lauren had. You name it, and she could fix it.I was finally done with the last of my bigger mowers. It was a self-propelled one, with a wheeled platform you stood on, that was towed behind it. I used it on the bigger jobs. Seemed to run fine to me, but Brenda intercepted it."Didn't you hear it while it was running? Sheesh! You must be deaf," Brenda said to me."Hear what? It sounded fine to me," I replied."Good thing you hired me to look after you! You would have had a very expensive piece of junk, if you'd.