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Message-ID: <49342asstr$1096899006@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
Subject: {ASSM} JC:Ed Biggers V-17 (mf mmf ffm ff mm sci-fi)
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Date: Mon,  4 Oct 2004 10:10:06 -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, "biggers5-17.txt" begin>

JC: Ed Biggers
Part 5: Stasis
Chapter 17
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

It was around lunchtime and Ed was driving when they crossed 
into Arkansas. The 'Welcome to Arkansas' sign flashed by with 
both occupants of the car shouting, "Goodbye to Oklahoma! Hello 
To Arkansas!"

The noise of a motorcycle, still using a gasoline engine, caught 
their attention. A guy in his early thirties passed them for the 
fourth time on his antique Harley Davidson motorcycle. While 
Fusion Engines were available for motorcycles, very few serious 
bikers used those engines. It was widely accepted among bikers 
that the loud engines made riding safer as drivers might not see 
them, but would hear them. 

Watching the guy pass them, Nora said, "How is it that when I 
drive, we pass him and when you drive, he passes us?"

"It might be that I don't speed." Ed looked over at Nora with a 
smile that suggested he was more than prepared for the argument 
that his words would trigger. 

"I don't speed!"

"The speed limit here is sixty-five and you go seventy-two."

"That's not speeding. The cops expect you to go a little over the 
advertised speed limit," replied Nora. She sat back waiting to hear 
his counter argument.

Chuckling, Ed said, "I get it. Speeding isn't speeding unless you're 
speeding."

"Right," she replied before a confused look crossed her face. She 
was going to have to think about that for a while.

It was well after lunchtime that they decided to stop for lunch. 
Bored with watching the road go past, Nora was ready for a break. 
The question was what she could find do, but that wasn't really a 
problem. Her car was filled with the latest and greatest gadgets, 
including a heads-up display that could connect to highway 
information servers that provided restaurant, hotel, and tourist 
attraction information in addition to updated road information.

She reached over to the dashboard and started pushing buttons. 
The heads up display came on startling Ed, as he found himself 
looking through a map at the road in front of him. Nora started 
executing queries about interesting places to stop and eat. After 
examining the display for several minutes, she said, "There's a 
diner up ahead that is one of the few art deco buildings along this 
route. What do you say to eating there?"

He shrugged his shoulders as he debated how to answer the 
question. Although he didn't really care where he ate, he did hope 
that the food would be good. Ed asked, "What kind of menu?"

"There's not much information about the place, but I imagine it is a 
typical diner." 

"Anything better?" asked Ed figuring that it was another greasy 
spoon. He wasn't sure if he was up to eating a greasy hamburger 
and fries again. Maybe they might have something a little different 
on the menu.

"Not really. A lot of chain places, but I'm really tired of eating at 
them," replied Nora.

"Okay." 

Ed drove as the navigation system fed him directions on how to 
reach the diner. Once he saw the place, it was impossible to miss. 
The building itself looked like a massive railroad car covered with 
chrome. There were no hard edges, the corners of the building 
were rounded. It didn't look that bad on the outside, but the place 
had definitely seen better times. Of course, few buildings after fifty 
years didn't look a little worn.

In front of the building was a huge sign with the name of the 
restaurant in five-foot tall letters. Surrounding the letters were neon 
tubes, that at night would spell out the name. The base of the sign 
was a stack of columns that got increasing larger. Around each 
column was a band of neon tubes. He wondered if the neon lights 
still functioned. If so, at night it would look like a series of rings 
that increased in diameter the higher up each ring was with the 
name of the diner floating above it.

As Ed pulled into the parking lot, Nora exclaimed, "He's here!"

"Who's here?" asked Ed, confused at the comment and unable to 
look around while he was busy navigating the parking lot.

"The guy on the motorcycle," said Nora as she pointed to the 
Harley parked in front of the diner. 

"Do you have a thing for that guy?"

Looking over at Ed, she answered, "No silly. He just looks so 
interesting, almost like a Hollywood presentation of a biker guy. 
The leather jacket, blue jeans, and boots give him a real biker 
look."

Ed teased her by saying, "You like him because he looks slightly 
dangerous. He's got a belly that just hangs over his belt buckle. It 
lets you know he likes to drink beer and not wine. That scraggly 
beard of his makes you think that he can't be bothered to shave."

The pair of them went inside the diner, through a door that gave 
the appearance that you were stepping into a train. The required 
round chairs without backs ran along the speckled Formica 
counter. The floor was covered with black and white tiles arranged 
in a checker board pattern. Three rows of booths ran opposite of 
the counter, the seats covered with green fake leather.

Since it was well after lunchtime, the place was nearly deserted. 
There was an elderly couple seated in one of the booths. From their 
gestures, it looked as though they were discussing the architecture 
of the room while waiting for their food to be delivered. Ed 
wondered if the couple was going around the country looking at 
architectures that had been common when they were younger. It 
made him think that it would be a nice way to spend a retirement.

The only other client in the diner was the motorcyclist. He was 
seated at the counter talking with the waitress. From the nature of 
their body language it appeared as though the two knew each other. 
The waitress stood at the counter, relaxed with her weight 
supported on one leg. She would shift to support herself with the 
other leg on occasions in the manner practiced by people who 
stood all day. Her right hand kept going up to her head to tuck in a 
stray hair here and there.

Nora headed straight for the counter and sat down a couple of 
chairs away from the biker. She turned so that she was facing him 
and the waitress. Without giving the waitress a second glance, she 
turned her attention to the biker. From the nature of their 
conversation, Nora could tell that he had only been there about five 
minutes.

When Ed joined her, he parked his body on the stool between her 
and the biker. An empty chair remained between the two men. 
Nora leaned forward and, whispering into his ear, asked, "Trying 
to protect me from the nasty biker?"

He turned to her and whispered back, "When you look at me, you 
can watch him all you want."

Nora leaned back and laughed as she realized that he was right. If 
he had sat on the other side, she'd have to turn her back to him to 
look at the biker. She said, "Oh, Ed. You are my hero."

Laughing, Ed shook his head at the characterization of being a hero 
and looked around the diner. The ceiling was covered with chrome, 
but it had been a long time since the chrome had been polished. It 
made the place look dirtier than it actually was. Behind the counter 
was a window that connected the dining area with the kitchen. A 
stainless steel wheel with clips for holding orders was hanging 
down from the center of the upper part of the window. Below the 
wheel was a shelf for the cook to set plates once he had filled an 
order. Small heat lamps hung down to keep the food warm.

The Formica counter had a small stainless steel rail that ran across 
the back. Built into the rail were menu holders, with small menus 
sticking up. In front of the menus were the condiments, sugar, 
catsup, mustard, salt, and pepper.  Ed reached over to the menu 
holder and pulled out two of them, handing one to Nora. Opening 
it, he saw that the food was typical diner fare including the 
standard Chef Salad. He didn't want a salad, so that left him with 
the burger. 

The waitress looked over at Ed and Nora, not happy about having 
to interrupt her conversation with the biker. It was clear by the 
expression on his face that he didn't want the conversation to be 
interrupted as well. The expression on the face of the waitress 
underwent a succession of changes. First she showed irritation. 
After a few seconds, she looked like she should recognize Nora, 
but couldn't. A few more seconds passed, when she believed that 
she had realized the identity of Nora, but didn't quite believe it. 
Then, she looked like she just had to know the truth. She called 
over, "Are you Nora Turner?"

"Yes, I am." Nora nodded as she answered. She had seen that same 
succession of looks come over people before. The question was 
what would happen next. Would it be an exclamation that they 
loved all her movies? Would it be a complement about her 
appearance? Would it be questions about what she was doing 
there? Other possibilities included requests for autographs, 
pictures, or even lots of physical touching.

Contrary to what Nora was expecting, the waitress turned to the 
biker and said, "Hey, Jack. That's Nora Turner, the movie star."

Jack, the biker, turned to look at Ed and Nora for a second. 
Recognizing them, he said, "Cool. Hey, you're the folks that were 
in the Silver BMW."

Ed appreciated the low-key response to Nora's presence. So far this 
trip, he had watched on more than one occasion when she had 
almost been dragged away, as excited fans wanted her to meet their 
friends. He answered, "Yeah. We recognized your bike when we 
pulled in."

The waitress hit Jack on the arm and said, "Hey Jack. If she weren't 
with this guy, maybe she'd go out with you."

Jack leaned back and laughed. His was the kind of laugh that one 
might characterize as a guffaw, loud and boisterous without the 
least embarrassment that he might be noticed. Looking over at the 
waitress, he said, "She's not my type and I'm probably not her 
type."

Surprised by their reaction to her, Nora was curious why they were 
so laid back. His answer shocked her and her pride demanded to 
know why he had discounted her so quickly. Nora leaned forward 
and asked, "What is your type?"

As she hit the biker on the jaw in slow motion with a fist, the 
waitress answered, "Women that cheat on him."

With a chuckle, Jack leaned back flailing his arms as if he had 
been actually been hit. Recovering he answered, "Nah. I like 
women like Karen, here."

There was more than a little truth in his words. Curious if there 
were feelings in the other direction, Ed asked, "So Karen, what is 
your type of man?"

Acting as if he were shooting her with a miniature bow, Jack 
answered, "Men that cheat on her."

Karen put her hands over her heart as if she were mortally 
wounded. From watching her, both the fake blow and the fake 
arrow to the heart were long standing jokes between the two. 
Gesturing at the biker with a thumb, she answered, "Nah. I like 
men like Jack."

Again there was more than a little truth in her words. Rather than 
follow up on the hints given by the way they talked, Ed said, 
"Sounds to me like you two go back a ways."

Jack said, "Yeah. Whenever someone cheats on one of us, we go to 
the other one and tell our tale of woe. After a couple of hours of 
ridicule and beer, we go our separate ways."

Acting as if she was mentally counting the with assistance of her 
fingers, Karen said, "Let's see. It's been nine boyfriends for me, 
eight girlfriends for you. If this keeps up, I'm going to run out of 
fingers."

With a real sadness in his voice, Jack said, "Nine girlfriends for 
me. I caught Joy with Ben last night."

"Ah, shit. You must really be feeling down. Let me take their order 
and we'll talk," replied Karen with a gesture of her head towards 
Ed and Nora.

Ed watched the exchange with interest. As far as Karen was 
concerned, the problem with Jack was more important than 
meeting a movie star. Ed liked that. Both of these people cared for 
each other, but they didn't see the other as a possible partner. 
Karen moved over to them and asked, "What do you want?"

Nora replied, "Chef's salad with Italian Dressing."

 From the lack of greasy smell in the air, it was possible that the 
food here wasn't that bad. Fearing that he was going to regret his 
order, Ed said, "I'll take a burger well-done, french-fries, and a 
glass of iced tea."

"Sweet or unsweet?"

"Unsweet, please," answered Ed. He liked a little sugar in his tea, 
but not as much as they normally put in sweet tea. The secret to 
making proper sweet tea was to add more sugar than was 
dissolvable into the tea while it was still hot. When it cooled down, 
the tea became super-saturated with sugar. That was too much 
sugar for his taste.

"Honey, what would you like to drink?" asked Karen. 

Ed had noticed a number of waitresses over the past few days often 
called Nora honey when asking questions. If it wasn't honey, it was 
darling or sugar. He hadn't noticed women doing that until this trip 
and wondered if it was a regional thing. He wasn't paying attention 
when Nora answered,  "I'll take an iced tea. Unsweet."

Karen turned to the window and hung the order on the wheel. With 
a negligent touch, she spun it for cook behind the window. A 
second touch stopped the wheel with the order where the cook 
could see it. The cook grabbed the order and examined it for a 
minute before replacing it on the wheel. Ed was only able to catch 
a slight glimpse of the cook. 

While Karen prepared two iced teas, Ed turned to Jack and asked, 
"So how long have you known each other?"

A wide grin spread across his face as Jack recalled all of their 
years together. They had grown up as neighbors, gone to school 
together, and rode bikes with the same group of people. He 
answered, "Since we were kids. Karen was the girl next door."

Karen turned back to them and added, "We've been best buds 
forever!"

While their food was getting prepared, Ed listened to the couple 
talk. The discussion was interrupted once when the ringing of a 
bell indicated that she had to deliver food to the couple sitting at 
the table. She didn't take long to pick up the food and carry it over 
to the table. Ed tried to examine the order, but she was moving too 
fast. When she came back, the friends picked up the conversation 
as if it hadn't been interrupted. 

Karen wasn't a small woman and looked like she could take care of 
herself with the roughest crowd. It was clear that she was perfectly 
comfortable on the back of a large bike. He noticed a tattoo of a 
motorcycle logo on her arm that peeked out from under her 
waitress outfit. She was definitely a biker. When she mentioned 
getting out her bike after she got off work so they could go for a 
ride, Ed knew that Jack and Karen were kindred spirits. From the 
things that they said, he was able to determine that they had never 
dated each other.

Ed was deep in thought when Nora said, "Hey Ed. Our food is 
here."

"Sorry." Coming out of his thoughts, Ed looked down at the 
burger. Much to his surprise, it wasn't a greasy mess. It had a very 
thick bun that wasn't the typical hamburger bun served in most 
diners. It was even covered with poppy seeds. He smelled the 
patty, recognizing the beef as angus. After piling the sliced 
tomatoes, onion, and lettuce on the burger, he put the top of the 
bun on the burger. He took a bite out of the burger, enjoying the 
subtle mixture of flavors. Setting the burger down, he chewed and 
swallowed. With a smile, he said, "Oh my, that's a good burger."

Nora giggled at the expression of pure pleasure on his face that 
was normally only present when Marguerite had surprised him 
with a new dish that he really liked. Karen was staring at him like 
he was some sort of strange creature from another planet unable to 
believe that anyone could eat a hamburger with such total 
involvement. Jack slapped the counter with an open palm, making 
a loud clap. He said, "See, I told you that you have great burgers 
here."

Ed looked around, noticing the looks everyone was giving him, 
and asked, "What?"

Awed, Karen said, "I've never seen a person enjoy a burger like 
that in my entire life."

Giggling at the expression on Ed's face, Nora said, "Ed worships 
food."

The couple returned to their conversation. This was the kind of 
conversation between friends that had helped each other through a 
number of previous episodes. Each told the other the same things 
told in the past, knowing it had helped in the past and would help 
again this time. There was the comfort level present in their 
interaction that only a few spouses find after years of living 
together. 

As the biker and the waitress talked, Ed and Nora ate their food. 
Between the two, Ed took much more pleasure in his meal than 
Nora. Even the french-fries were good and just begged to be eaten 
with catsup. He obliged them, covering them in catsup without 
smothering them. 

When he had finished his meal, he sat back on his stool with a 
satisfied sigh. Taking a sip of his iced tea, he looked around to find 
Jack staring at him. Nora was still picking at her salad, having 
watched Ed eat. Karen had brought the cook out to watch Ed eat. 
Karen said, "I would just love to have a film of you eating."

Laughing, Ed replied, "You aren't the first one that has told me 
that."

Nora felt a need to explain how rare his behavior had been. She 
said, "Ed has one of the best chefs in the country working for him. 
He does that almost every time he eats her cooking. I've only seen 
him enjoy a meal like that a handful of times when she didn't cook 
it."

"Dude, you got a cook?" asked Jack surprised. Of course, he had 
no idea if Ed worked for Nora or if he was a business partner of the 
movie star. 

"Yeah, she's the family chef. Actually, we have two of them and 
they are each the very best."

Describing Marguerite as a family chef was so far from the reality 
that Nora had seen that she burst out laughing. She looked over at 
Jack and said, "Don't believe him. They tailor every meal for him. 
You should see the looks on their faces when he doesn't like 
something they cook for him. You'd think their best friend had 
died. Just before coming here, they served him coffee that cost 
more than forty dollars a pound. When he didn't like it, they just 
about cried."

Surprised at the sweet sound of her words when she said that they 
cooked for him, Ed looked at Nora as he asked, "I was sorry about 
the coffee, but I like plain old simple coffee. Are you sure they 
tailor the meals for me?"

"Of course I'm sure. Everyone in your family knows it, too. Every 
recipe they look at, they ask if you would like it. If it doesn't pass 
the Ed test, then they don't cook it."

The news that he was being treated special by the staff disturbed 
him and made him wonder if the other family members were 
getting shortchanged. While he debated that, Nora said, "Excuse 
me, I have to use the restroom."

After she left, Jack turned to Ed and said, "Dude. She's a real pretty 
woman. How'd you get hooked up with her?"

"We hunt rocks together," answered Ed turning to face the biker 
after watching Nora search out the women's room. 

"I can just picture it on one of those cable hunting shows." 
Laughing, Jack held up his hand as if he was talking into a 
microphone. "We are here on a rock hunt with this fellow seated 
next to me. The wily rock is the most patient of prey, able to 
outwait the hunter for years. Traveling in great herds of rocks, it 
can take hours to spot the trophy rock."

Chuckling at the good imitation of a sports broadcaster and going 
with the flow, Ed added, "You have to understand that stealth is 
not required as much as a sharp eye. Difficult to find, they are even 
harder to kill as they have no vital organs."

Laughing in a volume that echoed in the near empty diner, Jack 
reached across and slapped Ed on the back. The elderly couple 
looked over at him with worry on their face, concerned that the 
biker was going to start getting rowdy. With a grin, Jack said, "I 
like you, buddy."

Karen had watched the exchange, laughing once she realized that 
Ed wouldn't take offense at Jack's humor. Too many people 
thought he was making fun of them when he went off on a tangent 
like that, but he wasn't. She was about to explain, but didn't have a 
chance.

Ed replied, "Well, I enjoy talking with someone that can spin a 
good joke."

Jack took a sip of coffee and looked over at Ed. He said, "So how 
did you meet her?"

"Oh, my old rock hunting partner sent her over to me. She had just 
gotten engaged to a great guy and felt that it wasn't right for her to 
spend weeks at a time out in the desert with me," answered Ed. 
After a pause, he added, "And for her, that would have been true.

"That's the kind of woman I'd like to meet. One that won't go 
screwing other guys."

Karen said, "Guys like that are even rarer."

"I don't know about that," replied Ed as he looked at the pair. "It 
seems pretty common to me."

"Bull."

Turning to Karen, Ed asked, "Would you cheat on a guy that you 
were going with?"

"No way," replied Karen. She might be a rough and tumble 
woman, but she was a good woman.

"You're telling the truth," said Ed. Turning to Jack, Ed asked, 
"Would you cheat on a woman that you were going with?"

"Hell no," replied Jack with a little anger in his voice. He added, 
"That's why it hurts so much when it happens to me."

"You're telling the truth," remarked Ed. Reaching over, he picked 
up his glass of iced tea and took a long slow sip. Jack and Karen 
watched his every move wondering what point he was trying to 
make. As he set the glass down, he said, "Out of six people in this 
room, there are at least two that feel the same way about 
monogamy. It doesn't seem that rare at all."

Nora returned to the counter and sat down next to Ed. She said, "I 
heard entirely too much laughing out here. Don't tell me you were 
telling a story about monkey shit coffee."

"Not guilty," replied Ed even as he felt the pressure growing in his 
bladder. He rose and said, "My turn at the facilities."

Ed walked over to the restroom and entered. It was a small room 
with a single toilet and no urinal. With his foot, he raised the seat 
while steadying himself by holding onto the wall. It wasn't long 
afterwards that he was pissing into the bowl. He occupied himself 
by reading the graffiti on the wall. Amidst a few poor drawings of 
male and female anatomy, there were the normal messages. "For a 
good time, call Sally the Slut." Another one said, "Greg sucks 
cock." 

Finished with his piss, he washed his hands and left the bathroom 
thinking that there didn't appear to be any regional differences in 
graffiti. He doubted there were even cultural differences. People 
the world over probably had the same bathroom humor and need to 
leave a mark. He chuckled at the thought that in Russia, someone 
was probably writing on the wall, "Gregor sucks cock."

He looked around the restaurant. He saw that the elderly couple 
had paid their bill and left. Looking over at the counter, Nora was 
chatting with the biker and waitress. The tinkle of laughter filled 
the room when she said something funny. Undoubtedly, she was 
telling them about the coffee incident. Jack was slapping his thigh 
while Karen was covering her mouth. 

It was clear to him that the biker and the waitress belonged 
together. It would take years for them to recognize it and by then it 
was liable to be too late. One or the other would be married before 
they ever figured it out. It was time for him to act, but the question 
was what he should do. He watched them for another minute 
before making up his mind. The medallion gave forth a reassuring 
warmth letting him know that his actions were right.

Walking over to the counter, he leaned down to Nora and said, "I 
need to get something out of the car. I'll be right back."

Nora watched him leave the diner a little confused. She knew that 
he didn't bring much with him on this trip except for a few changes 
of clothes and his robes. At the change of expression on her face, 
Karen asked, "You look like the cat that swallowed the canary. 
What's up?"

Looking from one to the other, Nora wondered what Ed wanted her 
to do. Deciding that it would be best not to say anything that was 
too informative, she said, "Ed went out to the car so that he could 
change into his work clothes."

Jack looked out the window, seeing Ed bent over as he riffled 
through his saddlebag for his robe. Turning back to Nora, he asked, 
"So what does he do for a living?"

"Lots of things," replied Nora not really knowing how to answer 
that question. 

Ed returned to the diner wearing his robe with the gold medallion 
showing. On entering, he stood at the door, legs slightly spread and 
hands clasped in front of him, looking at Karen. Rather than 
announce his presence, he waited for her to notice him. It didn't 
take long before she shouted, "My God, he's a Druid."

Jack spun around on the chair, thinking that she meant Ed was a 
member of the Druid Biker Club. He froze when he saw that Ed 
wasn't a biker. Bowing his head, Ed said, "I am the Druid Ed 
Biggers, head of all those who serve the Two-Sided One. My 
service is to the truth, to make known what is true and to expose 
what is not."

Smiling, Nora watched Ed happy at a chance to see him in action 
once again. The time spent with him while interrogating the 
terrorist had shown her just how powerful Ed was. This didn't 
seem nearly as serious of a matter, but that same sense of 
incredible power had filled the room. 

"So why are you wearing that outfit?" asked Jack. Nora had called 
them his working clothes. He wondered if that meant he was now 
working.

"I have been called to make known what is true," answered Ed as 
he looked at Jack. The expression in his eyes was piercing. He 
said, "There are truths here that require to be made known before 
tragedy befalls those involved."

The cook came out of the kitchen and watched what was going on. 
He was short with a crew cut and clean shaved face. He wore the 
outfit common to all cooks with one difference; his was clean. His 
eyes darted from one person in the room to the next, wondering 
what these great secrets were.

Karen swallowed nervously and asked, "What truths?"

"The ones within you and within Jack," answered Ed.

"What are you talking about?" asked Jack. His chest felt tight from 
nervousness. Hands sweaty, he hadn't been this nervous since he 
had jumped over a couple of cars on his bike years ago. 

In a commanding voice, Ed asked, "Jack, do you love Karen?"

Jack smiled and answered, "Like a sister, dude."

The slight dissonance of a half-truth shot through Ed. He stepped 
forward and, in a voice that reverberated through the room, 
commanded, "Do not lie to me or to your self. I ask again, do you 
love her like a man loves a woman?"

The smile was erased from his face as Jack looked wildly around. 
His breath was caught in his throat, his stomach twisted, and he felt 
dizzy. Hands shaking, he managed to say, "I don't know."

Ed took another step forward as he commanded, "You do know! 
Now tell me!"

"Okay! I do!" The shout came from deep within Jack. He had 
always known that he felt that way about Karen. Now that it was 
out, all that was left was the humiliation he would feel when she 
rejected him.

"You speak the truth," said Ed in a much softer voice. He looked at 
Karen, seeing that she had backed away from the counter as much 
as she could. The admission of love from Jack had not yet 
registered. Looking into her eyes, he asked, "Karen, do you love 
Jack?"

The tough woman did not want to appear vulnerable in front of her 
friend. She answered, "We've been friends forever."

Ed shouted, "You have not answered the question! Do you love 
Jack?"

Knowing her emotions much better than Jack, she knew exactly 
how she felt about him. Glaring at Ed, angry that she had to say it 
aloud, she screamed back, "Yes, I do!"

Amazed at what he heard, Jack slowly turned to look at Karen. She 
loved him? How was it that he didn't know that? The vulnerability 
with which she held her arms across her breasts tore at his heart. 
He wanted to rush behind the counter and hold her in his arms but 
his legs wouldn't work.

Ed held his hands out with palms up. With a simple smile and quiet 
voice, he said, "That wasn't so tough. He loves you and you love 
him. It is time for you to talk with each other honestly."

Her eyes lowered to meet Jack's eyes as everything that had 
happened finally registered. Jack loved her? When had that 
happened? He looked so uneasy that she wanted to run over to him 
and hug him.

Jack slowly rose and walked around the counter. Karen moved 
with him, meeting him at the end of the counter. They hugged each 
other. Watching them, Nora was moved to tears at the gentleness 
with which they held each other. Ed watched with a broad grin. 
The cook, rubbing the side of his nose with an index finger, said, 
"It's about time they realized it."

The cook, having given his take on the matter, returned to the 
kitchen as Ed laughed. Looking over at Nora, he said, "Not all of 
aspects of my service are as rough as interrogating a terrorist or 
catching a crook. Helping people find their happiness makes 
serving the Gods and Goddesses worth all of the pain in the 
world."
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