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Message-ID: <48521asstr$1090235402@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
Subject: {ASSM} JC:Ed Biggers IV-10 (mf mmf ffm ff mm sci-fi)
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Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 07:10:02 -0400
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=====
Lazlo Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac


		
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<1st attachment, "biggers4-10.txt" begin>

JC: Ed Biggers
Part 4: Adjournment
Chapter 10
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Leroy looked at Ed puzzled by his insistence that he meet this Tom 
person. Time was short that day, he had to be at the University in a 
couple of hours to meet with his professor. This was an important 
meeting as he expected to be told that he was ready to start writing 
his dissertation. It was about time since he had collected data over 
two full years. 

George came down from the security center and opened the front 
door. The odd looking man, Tom Hardy, stood at the door looking 
over the front of the house with an amused expression on his face. 
Winking at George, he said, "What a dump."

Not quite sure what to make of the strange man standing in front of 
him, George replied, "I take it you are Tom Hardy."

"Guilty as charged," replied the Tom as he spun around with his 
arms up in the air in a parody of a pirouette so that George.

"Dr. Biggers and Mr. Jones are expecting you. If you would follow 
me, I'll take you to them."

"And if I choose not to follow you?"

"I'll knock you senseless and drop your unconscious body at their 
feet," replied George without a smile trying to figure out why Ed 
had invited this man over. It was hard not to smile, the man's 
humor was contagious.

"Then I'll follow you," answered Tom as he ran his fingers over his 
mustache shaping the handlebars. 

George led him to the formal living room where Ed and Leroy 
were waiting. As George turned to leave the room, Tom quipped, 
"Thanks James."

"My name is not James."

"Oh, I thought all butlers were named James."

"I am not a butler. I am in charge of security around here. My job 
is beat abusive individuals into a pulp and pack them into 
suitcases, preferably three, to ship them to random destinations."

Tom paused to look at George for a second. With a broad smile he 
said, "At least you won't need to spend all that the money getting 
large suitcases for me. I ought to fit in four makeup cases."

Against his will, George had to laugh at the little man standing in 
front of him. Shaking his head, he left the room with a parting shot 
as he said, "Must be a Druid."

Without waiting to be offered a seat, Tom plopped into one of the 
larger stuffed chairs. His small body practically disappeared in the 
chair, but the energy of the man shone forth. Turning to look at 
Leroy, he said to Ed, "So, this is the man you insisted I meet."

Shaking his head in amusement, Ed said, "Leroy, I would like you 
to meet Tom Hardy. Tom, this is Leroy Jones."

Leroy looked at the little man and wondered why Ed would want 
them to meet. Although the little man seemed to be flippant, Leroy 
understood that Ed would not waste his time. Leroy nodded in the 
man's direction and said, "What brings you here?"

Pointing at Ed with forefinger extended and thumb up in shooters 
gestures, Tom replied, "Him."

Smiling at the antics of the little man, Ed said, "Tom works for the 
Game and Wildlife Department and brought a problem to my 
attention. He's trying to contain Chronic Wasting Disease among 
deer herds in his state. This is a significant problem and one that 
deserves some of the best minds in the country working on it. Of 
course, I thought of you. I thought that since you were about to 
write your dissertation, that you might be interested in lining up a 
research area to pursue afterwards."

Thoughtful, Leroy settled back in his chair trying to remember all 
that he could about CWD. It had first been identified in captive 
deer in Colorado and had slowly spread across the country in the 
wild populations of deer and elk. While there was a lot known 
about the disease, there were questions about how its spread could 
be halted and reversed. He had never considered pursuing this area 
of research, but could become interested in it very easily. He 
turned to Tom and asked, "What are your plans?"

Tom answered, "I'd like to put together a core set of researchers to 
study the problem solely in terms of identifying efficient 
mechanisms for halting the spread."

Ed slipped out of the room leaving the two men to discuss the 
problem. Entering the kitchen he found Marguerite seated at the 
table reading a bridal magazine. Sitting across from her, he said, 
"You only have two weeks of single life ahead of you."

She smiled up at him and said, "I know. In a way, I'm lucky that 
most of the family is up at the Druid College. I can hardly 
concentrate on cooking."

Sighing at the reminder, Ed said, "I think that this house is going to 
be empty much of the time over the next few years. The kids need 
to be around John and he has to stay at the College."

"You are bothered by this."

"I wouldn't say that I am bothered by it, but I am saddened. I love 
this house and I don't want to leave it for a long period of time. 
This is such a great town and all of my friends live here."

The comment about friends provided her with a perfect segues to a 
topic she wanted to discuss with Ed. She had a great surprise for 
him and knew that he would happy to hear her news. Marguerite 
said, "I finally found someone to fill in for me while I'm on my 
honeymoon."

Surprised to hear that she had problems finding someone to take 
her place, Ed said, "I thought that you were going with the 
assistant chef of Jim Ritter."

Marguerite had met Jim Ritter when he participated in the 
medieval party that John and Ed had thrown for Kelly and Beth. 
He was a professional chef and had helped in the kitchen. Since 
then, their paths had crossed several times as the best chefs in the 
area often met and discussed their occupations. She answered, 
"The owner of the restaurant where they worked was arrested for 
fraud. Jim and his crew have started their own place and can't spare 
anyone."

The owner of the restaurant had been Matt Henderson and had 
been a real jerk. His old rock-hunting partner, Kim, had dated him, 
but after one confrontational evening they had broken up. The 
upside for Kim was that she met her current husband. For Ed, it 
meant that he had lost his rock-hunting partner and assistant for his 
consulting business. He commented, "That guy was scum and the 
world is better with him in jail."

Marguerite knew how much Ed disliked the owner of the 
restaurant where Jim had worked. Wanting to get the discussion 
back on topic, she said, "So that made my search much more 
difficult, but I finally found the perfect candidate. All you have to 
do is say okay."

Curious, Ed asked, "So who is it?"

"Shauna Johnson."

The choice shocked Ed. She was the assistant that he hired 
whenever they attended the culinary cooking contest in New York. 
He knew that she was studying cooking, but hadn't realized that 
she had progressed to a point where Marguerite would trust her 
with the care and feeding of the Carter Clan. Curious, he asked, 
"She's that good?"

Marguerite smiled and answered, "She has the same passion for 
cooking as I have. Until she started attending the competitions, she 
had never known how good food could taste or how amazing a 
dining experience could actually be. Next year, she's going to be 
my assistant at the competition."

That news really surprised Ed as he thought that Bob and 
Marguerite would compete together again. It also meant that he 
would have to find a new assistant when he went to the 
competition. He said, "I'm happy to hear that she has found a 
passion in her life. I felt that being a clerk was not as rewarding to 
her as she deserved. When does she arrive?"

"Tomorrow," answered Marguerite knowing that the real surprise 
was going to come when he saw her. Every year since Marguerite 
had started competing, Shauna had been losing weight as she 
adopted better cooking techniques and eating habits. Now, she and 
Marguerite were about the same size. 

Pouring himself an iced tea, Ed said, "I had better get back and see 
how Leroy and Tom are getting along."

Nodding absently, Marguerite returned her attention to the bridal 
magazine. As she looked at the pictures, she knew that she was 
going to have a wedding that would be the envy of women all over 
the world. The Carter Clan had spared no expense in making sure 
that she had everything that a woman could want in a wedding. 

Seeing that her attention was lost in the magazine, Ed returned to 
the formal living room where the two men were locked in a 
discussion that was highly technical in terms of the biological 
characteristics of CWD. Ed sat down and interrupted, "Leroy, I 
thought you had an appointment with your professor."

Leroy looked at his watch and then shot out of his chair as he said, 
"I'm going to be late."

As Leroy dashed out of the room, Ed laughed knowing that his 
husband had found a new passion. He said, "I'll have George set up 
a room for you to stay in for the next day or so. I'm sure that you 
and Leroy still have much to talk about."

Stepping out of the living room, Ed called to Cathy, "Can you have 
George set up a guest room for Tom?"

She called back from the office, "Sure thing."

Five minutes later, George appeared at the entrance of the formal 
living room. Glancing over at Tom, he asked with a forced frown 
on his face, "I take it this creature is staying with us."

Ed answered, "Yes, he is."

Smiling at George and the characterization of him as a creature, 
Tom quipped, "I only require a medium size kennel, some fresh 
straw, three meals a day, and a good bowl of water."

Chuckling at the request, George replied, "I'll take you to your 
room and explain the rules of the household to you. I shall have to 
trust that you'll obey them."

Mimicking the manner in which George walked, Tom followed 
him out of the room. Ed took a final sip of his iced tea and put the 
empty glass on the tray placed in the room for that purpose. Sarah 
would come by and clear the tray sometime during the day. With 
the kids in the house, he had thought they would need to get 
someone to help her, but she had handled the increased workload 
without a problem. 

Leaving the house, he walked down the street to his old place that 
had been converted into an office for his consulting business. His 
new assistant was hard at work mapping out the results of their 
latest survey. Walking over to the workstation, Ed asked, "So, 
Terry, how's it look?"

The young man looked up at Ed and said, "Not very good for the 
owners of the mine. It looks to me like they've tapped it out."

The assessment didn't surprise Ed as he bent down and looked at 
the computer screen. Pointing to an area, he said, "Can you give 
me a more detailed look at that area?"

Fingers flying over the keyboard, a three dimensional map of the 
area that Ed had identified replaced the original image on the 
screen. There were only a few notes covering that area. Terry 
shrugged his shoulders and said, "There's not much there."

Looking at the notes, Ed searched his memory trying to recall that 
area a little more clearly. He replied, "I want you to go back out 
there and survey that area down to a ten-meter resolution. There 
were traces of quartz in that area and perhaps they can make a 
profit off it."

"Okay. You're the boss."

No matter how many times Ed had tried to get Terry to quit 
viewing him as a boss, he was meeting with significant resistance 
to that idea. Ed shook his head and said, "How many times do I 
have to say that I'm not your boss?"

"More times than you will have the opportunity."

"You are using that relationship to keep from having to think for 
yourself," replied Ed as he stared at his assistant.

"I would rather err on the side of caution."

Rather than react directly, Ed looked around his house hardly 
recognizing it after the changes. The bedroom had been converted 
into the computer room where Terry spent most of his time 
working with a GIS system. The living room was the secretarial 
office with a waiting room. It was still absent a secretary, but he 
hoped that would change today. After two weeks of advertising for 
a secretary, they had one applicant and he had scheduled the 
appointment for that morning. Sighing, Ed said, "If you don't start 
taking this position a little more seriously, then I won't be able to 
turn daily operations over to you in six months. I want you to start 
thinking like a businessman."

The idea that Ed would be turning the office over to him was news 
to Terry and news that he didn't want to hear. Staring in disbelief at 
his boss, he asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I intend to have you take over running this business in 
six months. Between now and then, I want you to start taking a 
more active interest in it, make decisions for yourself without 
waiting for me to tell you what to do," replied Ed. This was a 
difficult discussion, but Terry was one of the brightest students that 
he had encountered in all of his years at the University. He knew 
the young man could live up to his expectations, but the lack of 
commitment to it was puzzling. 

"You're the expert," replied Terry in doubt of his abilities to live up 
to the expectations Ed placed upon him. Never in his life had he 
ever had to work to his fullest capacity to impress people around 
him. The exception was Ed who pressed him with a relentlessness 
that was almost terrifying. 

"So are you, you just won't admit it to yourself. You keep taking 
the easy way out. That will not be the case from now on," replied 
Ed. The first test was going to be hiring the secretary for the 
business. The pair of them would have to work closely and Terry 
was going to have to select her.

Terry knew enough not to argue the point. The fact was that Ed 
was the only man whose talents he actually respected enough to 
want to work under him. Shrugging with a casualness that he 
didn't feel, he said, "I hope I don't disappoint. Did you ever 
consider that you may have misplaced your faith in my abilities?"

Looking around for something to use as a prop, Ed pointed to a 
glass of tea sitting on the desk. Watching Terry carefully, he said, 
"Suppose that you had a glass that was never filled beyond half 
full. The rest of the glass is wasted potential. You have to fill it 
twice as often than if filled to capacity. That is you. You are a glass 
that has never been filled to the top. We don't know just how much 
you can hold, but I do know that there is a lot more to you than 
you've allowed yourself to expose to the world."

Terry knew that the words had been spoken truly. A shudder went 
through his body as he considered the full implications of what had 
been told him. A life spent working just hard enough to be better 
than others around him had made him lazy and shortsighted. Ed 
was tearing apart a lifetime of bad habits with such ease that it 
made him wonder if he was that transparent.

A knock on the front door interrupted the thoughts of the two men. 
Ed went to the door and guided a young lady into the room. She 
took in his robe and medallion and recognized that he was a Druid. 
This only served to make her more nervous about being 
interviewed and she was already very nervous.

Trying to take her mind off her situation, she looked around the 
inside of the house. She was surprised by the business interior 
filled with desks, filing cabinets, and office equipment. When she 
had learned the interview was taking place in a house in a 
residential area, she had become suspicious that it was not a 
legitimate interview. Her boyfriend was in the car out front and 
would come running if she screamed. Ed, glancing out the door, 
noticed the nervous young man in the car. Sticking his head out the 
door, he shouted, "Come in. It's a little hot out there to be waiting 
in the car."

The boyfriend wondered if this was some sort of trap, but noticed 
the Druid robes. Concerned, he left the car and entered the house. 
Coming in, he was surprised by the lobby. Ed pointed to one of the 
leather-covered chairs and said, "Please have a seat."

"Yes, sir."

Ed led the young woman into his office and offered her a seat. As 
she seated herself, Terry entered the room and took the other chair. 
Still standing, Ed said, "Allow me to introduce ourselves. I'm Ed 
Biggers and this is Terry Sharp."

The young woman said, "I am Lynn Holliday."

Taking a seat behind his desk, Ed picked up a sheet of paper and 
handed it to her as he said, "This is a list of the office software that 
we use. Would you mind checking off the programs that you know 
how to use and your degree of familiarity with them?"

The young woman went through the list checking off most of the 
programs and claiming a relatively high proficiency with each. 
After a few minutes, she handed the sheet back to Ed. He glanced 
over it seeing a few lies in proficiency and, as he handed the sheet 
back to her, he requested, "Would you please be a little more 
accurate in your assessment of your abilities?"

Shaken by the request, she went through the sheet again lowering 
her familiarity of a few of the programs. When she had finished, 
she handed the sheet back to Ed and said, "Maybe I overstated my 
abilities a little on a few of these."

Ed went through the list again and then handed it over to Terry. 
Frowning as he read her skills, he didn't know what to make of it. 
She was basically semi-skilled and there was much that she would 
have to learn in order to meet the job responsibilities. Training 
would take six months or so, but she would learn to do things their 
way. It crossed his mind that he was suddenly thinking in terms of 
things being done their way, rather than Ed's way. The thought 
shocked and surprised him.

Handing the sheet back to Ed and seeing the look on his face, he 
realized that it was up to him to continue the interview. He asked, 
"Would you be willing to be trained in use of the programs where 
you are less than proficient?"

"Yes, sir," replied Lynn. 

Glancing over at Ed, Terry suddenly realized why Ed preferred 
informal address. It didn't feel natural to him to be referred to as sir 
or Mr. Sharp. One made him feel old and the other made him feel 
like his father. Dr. Sharp was so formal that he was always 
shocked when someone called him that. It didn't matter if he had 
earned the respectful salutation. With a grin at Ed, he corrected 
her, "Please call me Terry."

Sitting behind his desk, Ed put his hand over his mouth to hide his 
smile at the fact that Terry was taking control of the interview as 
he had hoped. The young woman, nervous due to the interview 
experience, just nodded. Noticing her nervousness, he asked, "Is 
this your first job interview?"

"Basically yes. I mean, I did work at a burger place," she 
answered. Nervous, she went to her bag and pulled out a folded 
resume. She handed it to Terry and said, "Here's my resume."

The crumpled nature of the paper bore testimony to her lack of 
experience. Terry looked over it and saw that she had a little 
community college as her highest level of education along with a 
very short history of work experience. There wasn't much 
information on which to judge her. He was tempted to wait for a 
more experienced candidate. After handing it to Ed, he said, "I see 
you have gone to community college."

"Yes, I did."

"What was your major?"

"I didn't have one. I was basically getting the general education 
requirements out of the way." Many of her classmates had declared 
majors early, but then changed them a half a dozen times. Rather 
than go through those hassles, she had chosen not to declare a 
major.

This was contrary to how Terry had entered college since he had 
known from the first day what subject in which he wanted to 
major. Nodding as though he could see the wisdom of doing that, 
Terry asked, "Are you planning on pursuing your education?"

Lynn glanced at the two men wondering what kind of answer they 
desired. Neither man gave a hint as to how they wanted her to 
answer. She chose the truth and answered, "Maybe."

There was truth in her answer despite its lack of commitment. This 
ambivalence intrigued Ed and, leaning forward, he said, "Let me 
guess. You have no idea what you want to do in life. Nothing that 
you've seen so far interests you to a degree where you are ready to 
commit to it. Adrift in life, with a boyfriend that you aren't sure 
how you feel about, you look at this job as a way to fill your time 
until you know what you want to do."

Shocked that Ed had read her true feelings so accurately, she paled 
and then nodded. This revelation made Terry wonder what he was 
supposed to do with the knowledge that he had just gained. In 
order to buy a little time to put his thoughts in order, Terry asked, 
"Would you like to tell us a little about yourself?"

After having her soul bared for them to see, Lynn could only shrug 
her shoulders as she said, "There isn't too much to tell that you 
haven't already covered."

There was an eight-year difference in age between Lynn and Terry, 
but almost a lifetime of experience separated them. It was a 
difference that went beyond age. Twelve years of college courses 
versus two years was significant. At school, he would be the 
teacher and she would be the student. Ed noticed the difficulty 
Terry was having in the interview and, in order to put things on a 
more comfortable level, suggested, "Why don't you two head over 
to Shirley's for a coke? Take your boyfriend along with you."

The suggestion to go a bar to talk was one that Ed had made many 
times in the past. The more relaxed atmosphere enabled people to 
open up and establish the kind of personal relationship that was 
necessary for people that worked together to actually work 
together well. Terry recognized this as an implicit suggestion that 
Lynn was to be hired. "That's a good idea. Lynn, why don't you go 
out and tell your boyfriend?"

When Lynn had left the room, he turned to Ed and asked, "Why 
her?"

"She's a blank slate that you can help develop to her full potential."

Terry got a thoughtful look as he examined Ed carefully. Was he a 
blank slate that Ed was allowing to develop to his full potential? 
Now was not the time to worry about that question. He would have 
to wrestle with it later when he had the time for contemplation. For 
now, the woman was about to become his problem. "Okay, I can 
see that. What do you suggest that I do?"

"If you like her and can work with her, send her to Cathy to be 
trained," replied Ed.

Surprised at how much Ed was leaving in his hands, Terry asked, 
"Don't you want to interview her some more?"

He knew that he could work with the young woman, particularly 
after Cathy trained her. Smiling at the young man, Ed replied, "She 
will be working with you, so it is up to you to decide if you can 
tolerate her. If you decide to hire her, you have to explain to her 
what her duties will be."

"Yes, Ed."

Ed watched the three of them leave the office and went to work on 
his books. He now had many business interests and was making 
more money than he ever thought possible. Rather than investing 
in stocks, he invested in small businesses that were just starting. 
These weren't the kinds of businesses that went to an investment 
broker or venture capitalist for startup capital, but family 
businesses. Twenty-five percent ownership in a lot of companies 
meant that only a handful had to succeed to make up for the losses 
of the others. 

It took time for him to calculate the total worth of his investments, 
but he was shocked at the number that appeared at the bottom of 
the spreadsheet. He was now a multi-millionaire based solely on 
his own earnings. The money would have to be managed much 
more carefully than he had time. This meant that he would have to 
put Lynn in charge of keeping the books for all of his interests. 

Sitting back in his chair, he thought about Nevada and his concerns 
that Ed was throwing away his future when he chose to pursue his 
education rather than accept the raise at the auction house. Now he 
was a millionaire. Not bad for a cowboy who had spent a major 
percentage of his life pushing cattle.

Looking at the clock on his desk, Ed realized that several hours 
had passed since the interview. Terry had returned without him 
noticing it. There weren't going to very too many days when Ed 
would be able to stop by Shirley's and chat with his neighbors. Not 
wanting to miss a one of his last few chances in the near future, Ed 
left the office and headed into town.   

It wasn't long before Ed entered the bar and looked around at the 
people sitting at various tables. Noticing Joe sitting at a table with 
his very pregnant wife, Ed went over to their table. Shirley brought 
over a coke and joined them at the table. Smiling, Ed asked, "Let 
me guess. Hot tub?"

Joe laughed as Juanita blushed at the question. With a smile, he 
answered, "Yes, but it wasn't an accident."

"Congratulations. I'm happy for you both."

"We love the hot tub that you bought for us as a house warming 
present. I think we use it every day." Juanita smiled with that 
special smile of a woman holding onto a secret as she spoke.

Noticing the smile, Ed wasn't crass enough to follow up on it. 
Instead, he said, "I'm glad it is coming in useful. As hard as you 
work, you deserve to pamper yourself occasionally."

Shirley looked over at Ed and asked, "Speaking of hard workers, 
when are your wives returning home?"

"The kids have to stay there with John for a while longer and both 
wives are staying with them. Everyone will be here for a few days 
around the time of Marguerite's wedding."

"John misses Beth. I fear they shall grow apart. John is learning 
things at an incredible rate and I wonder how it can be."

Having been there the night that John touched the medallion, Ed 
knew the truth. He said, "Your son has been touched by the Two-
Sided One."

"Is that a good thing?"

Quiet as he thought about her question, Ed finally answered, "I 
think it happened for a very good reason."

"Tell me," demanded Shirley, the maternal instinct in her rising to 
protect her son.

"Beth needs someone like her," answered Ed with a sad look at the 
idea of the loneliness that Beth and Little John faced because of 
their differences from other kids their age. He said, "John is not a 
bad choice for her. I know his parents and they are good people."

Shirley sat back as she thought about the implications of that. Had 
Beth chosen John as a life partner? Had the Goddess given John 
rapid mental development to John so that could happen? She 
smiled and asked, "Does that mean that we might be in-laws one 
day?"

"I wouldn't dare speculate on that," replied Ed with a smile at the 
thought of the party that could precede a marriage between the 
kids. 

Richard entered the bar and noticed Ed sitting at the table with Joe 
and Juanita. Seeing him enter, Shirley turned and scurried back to 
the bar saying that she had to return to work. With a weary stride, 
Richard came over to the table and sat down heavily. He looked 
beat and turned to Joe and Ed. With a sigh, he asked, "So how do 
you put up with mood swings?"

With a face that looked far too innocent for a man married to a 
pregnant woman, Joe asked, "What mood swings?"

In a much colder tone of voice, Juanita asked, "What mood 
swings?"

Faltering at the unexpected response, Richard said, "You know, the 
mood swings that come with being pregnant."

Shaking his head in total denial, Joe said, "Amigo, I have no idea 
what you are talking about. My wife is always loving."

Ed had to put his hands over his ears to keep from getting 
overwhelmed by the lie. Juanita took one look at Ed and frowned. 
She said, "Are you telling me that I am difficult to live with right 
now?"

Holding his hands in front of him as though fending off an attack, 
Joe replied, "I didn't say anything like that."

"But you were thinking it," said Juanita as she started crying. "You 
think I'm a whale."

An unrepentant Richard rolled his eyes as Joe glared at him. 
Smiling, Ed leaned over to Juanita as he whispered in her ear, 
"You know that I always tell the truth. Believe me when I say that 
you are a beautiful woman and that Joe loves you very much."

The words had the desired effect as she immediately stopped 
crying and hugged Ed. A moment later, she grabbed Joe and pulled 
him out of the bar. Flustered by the rapid change in her mood, Joe 
had thrown some money in the general direction of Shirley as he 
was pulled past the counter. Ed laughed as they left.

Richard watched them go and asked, "Tell me, how do you put up 
with moody women like that?"

"You have to view it as part of the miracle."

When something becomes an everyday part of your life, it is often 
difficult to remember that it is something special. Living with 
pregnant women is like that, so easy to overlook the miracle of 
bringing forth a new life. Richard had forgotten that fact and the 
reminder caused him to look over at Ed with appreciation. A little 
less frazzled, he said, "Thanks, I needed to be reminded of that."

After Richard left, Ed was alone at the table. Picking up his coke, 
he walked over to the bar bringing the empty glasses with him. 
Shirley smiled at his thoughtfulness and started washing the 
glasses as she said, "You come in here and chase everyone away."

Laughing at the comment and how it was that he actually used to 
chase people away, Ed said, "Sorry about that. It wasn't 
intentional."

Having seen how happy Juanita was when she pulled Joe out of the 
bar, she knew that Ed had said the right thing to her. The look on 
Richard's face when he left the bar suggested that Ed had said the 
right thing to him. She replied, "I know."

"Things are changing around here."

"Are you going to be in town long?" asked Shirley.

"No, I'm not. I'll be leaving right after Marguerite's wedding."

"Where are you going?"

"To the Druid College. I miss my family." Ed realized that he was 
going to be spending the majority of time away from home. 

"You seem so sad about going to spend time with your family," 
remarked Shirley.

"When I get there I'm going to miss my friends here," replied Ed 
with a smile.
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