By Sheri

Disclaimers: See Part 1

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, another gorgeous example of a summer day in Minnesota. Of course, Dee didn't see the day dawning, she was still sleeping. On the weekends she generally slept until noon if she could get away with it. Having to get up early to work during the week was one of the few things Dee hated about her job. There were many things that Dee really enjoyed and sleeping was definitely one of them. She also enjoyed staying up really late at night which could be directly related to her love of sleeping late. When you go to bed at 2 or 3am it is a lot easier to justify sleeping until noon. Tracy knew about Dee's love of sleeping late and she also knew what time Dee had gotten home late last night. So when she walked up to the door she knew that she would probably have to pound on the door before she would get any response from Dee. After two or three minutes of heavy pounding she finally heard Dee coming down the stairs.

She opened the door after seeing who would dare to be pounding so early in the morning. "Hey Tracy, what's up?"

"I thought I would take the chance that you were still around this morning and see if you wanted to have that talk?"

"Ok. You know though I really meant what I said last night. I am really not too worried about it anymore."

"What made you change your mind?"

"I told Lita about the dream last night."

"You're kidding!" Tracy was utterly shocked at this revelation. "I thought you had decided that you weren't going to tell anyone about that anymore."

"I had decided that, but when I wrote down my phone number for her I put D. Moore and she picked up on it right away. She asked me what the D stood for and I told her. I had given her a hard time about her name and the fact that there must be some kind of story behind it so she neatly turned the tables on me when she found out my real name. I avoided the issue when we first talked about it at the restaurant but when we were walking up to the farm last night she said she wouldn't tell me her decision about bowling until I told her about my name."

"What was her reaction?"

"You won't believe it Tracy, she wasn't freaked out at all. She told me that it wouldn't scare her away. We talked about why other people had been scared off and she thought that the dream wasn't the scary part."

"What did she think was the scary part?"

"She said that she would be more scared of the fact that there was so much more life to be lived by the two and so many things that they would have to face that they didn't know about. She thought like the rest of us that the dream shouldn't be scary because everything worked out fine there. It was the unknown future that she would be concerned with."

"Sounds pretty practical to me. Did she mention the fact that she seemed to be the embodiment of the shadowwoman?"

Dee looked at Tracy warily and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you didn't notice it."

"Notice what?"

"What do the two women in the dream look like?" Tracy asked.

"One has light hair and green eyes and the other has dark hair and..." She suddenly realized what Tracy was talking about and stopped.

"Blue eyes." Tracy finished for her. "You honestly didn't notice that?"

"No. Truthfully, even though the shadow changed into a woman I always thought that my other half would still be a man. I really didn't think that my soulmate would be a woman."

"How did you explain the fact that she was a woman in the dream?"

"I always thought that was because she was my mirror image. I always thought it was just a representation of someone who would be perfect for me in every way. Alike yet different. Do you really think that it's possible, that the person I was meant to spend the rest of my life with is a woman?"

"I think it is very possible. Haven't you ever thought about women like that before?"

Dee couldn't seem to look Tracy in the eyes anymore. Tracy noticed this and said, "Dee you know you can tell me anything and it doesn't go any farther than these walls. I would never want to hurt you or let anyone else hurt you."

"I know that. I just have never talked to anyone about this kind of stuff before. I have thought about it and wondered about it but I have never really thought seriously about it before. I used to wonder if there was something wrong with me. I mean, I am almost 30 years old and I have never really had a serious relationship before. You can count the number of dates I have had on one hand, I haven't been kissed very often and to tell the truth I was never that impressed when I was." She stopped again and shyly looked up at Tracy trying to gauge her reaction to these innermost thoughts.

"I would have to say that you haven't been kissed by the right person then. I guess sex is a subject you are not ready to talk about then?"

"It would be safe to assume that I don't have any experience in the area so it would be a short discussion." Dee confirmed Tracy's unspoken suspicion.

"Ok then let's talk about Lita specifically. Did you take my advice last night and pay attention to your reactions to her."

"Yes I did."

"So what's the verdict?"

"I am not sure what to go by. I definitely noticed that I reacted differently to her than I have to other people. I thought some of that was due to the fact that she reacted so positively to the dream, but then I realized that I had been reacting before I told her the story. How do you feel when Eddie gets close to you?"

"My heart starts to pound and my skin tingles wherever he touches me. Whenever I am away from him I think about him."

"You think about him? What do you think about?"

"Little things. I wonder what he is doing, what he's thinking about."

"I haven't thought that much about Lita."

"Dee you met the woman yesterday and spent about 6 hours with her in that time. You haven't even been away from her long enough to think about her. Dee? Dee? Are you listening to me?" Tracy snapped her fingers in front of Dee's face.

"Huh. Sorry, did you say something?"

"Never mind. I think you get the idea."

"Yeah, I think I do. Now I have only one problem."

"What's that?"

"What do I do about it?"

"If you want my advice I would suggest that you let whatever is going to happen happen and try not to worry about how. You do have an edge that most of us don't when we are going into a relationship."

"What's that?"

"The dream. Whether you realize it or not I think that Lita is the woman in your mom's vision. The dark hair and blue eyes are a definite giveaway. If nothing else I think you may have finally found someone worthy of being your friend. You have always been the best friend anyone could ask for, and I have always regretted what happened to you with those two people who claimed to be your friends."

"I think you're right. I get the feeling deep down in my soul that Lita is someone I could trust with my life, my fears, and maybe even my heart." Dee seemed to be lost in her thoughts again so Tracy waited a moment before asking, "So what was Lita's decision about bowling?"

"She said she would love to be part of the team. She also mentioned that she used to play volleyball in college. I thought I would try to talk her into joining us in that too. Of course I would have to talk to mom first and make sure we needed another player. Can you imagine the front line we would have with Lita and Amy up there?" Amy was Dee's sister who was also very tall, although not quite as tall as Lita was. Tracy was also on the team.

"Well, we did have three people say that they weren't going to be coming back so I would think that we would need to find at least one or two more players."

"That's what I was thinking too."

"Hey, I'd better get back out to the lake lot. Those guys are going to be wanting to eat lunch pretty soon, that is if they are done baling that last load of hay."

"I wondered what they were busy at this morning. I figured they were doing something that you were free to come into town."

"I would've left even if they weren't busy. I really wanted to talk to you and make sure you were doing ok."

"Thanks. I think that I can honestly say that I am fine with it and actually looking forward to the next few months. Weird huh?"

"Why?"

"Don't you think it's weird that I am actually looking forward to the fact that my life is going to get very difficult in the near future. The vision is actually starting to take place, that means that I am going to face some troubles. All my life I have known this was coming and now it seems to be happening."

"I guess I would be glad to know that it is finally going to get started. I mean, how can you get past it if it never gets started right? So I don't think it's weird at all. Will you be coming out to the lake today?" Tracy asked, thinking she was pretty sure what Dee's answer would be.

"I don't know. I wouldn't want Lita to think I was stalking her or anything. I would like to see her though. Maybe I will give her a call later and see what her plans are for the day. I know she has to go back to work tonight so I wouldn't want to keep her from doing chores or something. Just because I don't spend much time cleaning on the weekends, or anytime I can find something else to do for that matter, doesn't mean that she wouldn't like to get some things done around her house."

"Ok then, I guess we'll see you if we see you then."

"Right, see you later. Thanks again."

"Not a problem." Tracy walked to her car and with a wave left to go back to the lake.

After Tracy left Dee went over to her computer and booted it up. 'I might as well check my e-mails and see what the pack is talking about today.' she thought.

The pack was being quiet, for them. The main discussions centered around the latest updates posted by the various bards on the list, solving riddles, and making plans for get togethers. After downloading her e-mails and checking a few favorite web sites Dee logged off to begin the process of reading her e-mails. 'Only 75 since last night, the pack must have been out enjoying or battling real life.' she thought. 'I know which of those categories I fit into. Enjoyment all the way.' She had just finished reading the last e-mail when the phone rang.

"Hello." Dee answered.

"Hey." It was Lita. Dee sat up a little straighter in her chair and couldn't help the smile that lit up her face and brought a sparkle to her green eyes.

"Hi! I was just thinking about you."

"You were. I was thinking about you too. What were you thinking?"

"I was just going through my e-mails from the pack and I was thinking again that we need to get you on the net so you can join in on the fun again. What were you thinking about?"

"That is definitely my first priority this week. I was thinking about you while I was out on the deck. I was listening to this really intense volleyball game going on next door and then I realized that I didn't hear your voice mixed in with all the others. I wondered where you were and what you were up to so I thought I would call and find out."

"I was worried that if I showed up out there again today you would start to think I was stalking you or something."

"That's silly." Lita laughed. "Besides, there's nothing that says you can't be next door having fun. How would I even know you were over there if you didn't come over to my side? You could just stay on your lake lot if you were really worried about what I would think."

"I seriously doubt that would work."

"Why do you say that?""

'Oh no reason at all except that there is no way I could be that close to you and not see you.' Dee thought. Out loud she said, "Somehow I get the feeling that I would have been chasing all the stray volleyballs just to see if you were hanging around. Inevitably I would've spotted you on one of those trips through the trees and then you would feel obligated to invite me over. I would've accepted and then proceeded to talk your ear off again."

"You know there is only one problem with your theory Des."

"What's that?"

"I never do anything I don't want to do whether I feel obligated to or not."

"Oh. Well then do you want to know the truth?"

"Always." Lita replied sincerely.

"I actually just got out of bed a few hours ago. Tracy stopped over about 10:00 and woke me up. When she left I checked my e-mails and I have been busy being a bum ever since."

"I wish I could have slept until 10:00. I woke up at 7:00 and started my laundry, went for a run around the lake, did some more laundry, had a little breakfast, did some more laundry, played a little pool, finally finished my laundry, and then went out onto the deck." She could have added that she had thought about soaking in the hot tub for a while and that was when she really noticed Des' absence, but she wasn't sure Des was ready to hear thoughts like that yet.

"Thanks a lot." Dee said. "Now I really feel like a lazy bum."

"There's only one solution to this laziness that I can see."

"Oh really, what's that?"

"You need to get out of the house and do something."

"I could be convinced to come out of my nice, comfortable, mosquito free house to the hot, wet, bug laden lake lot on one condition."

"What's the condition?"

"That you come over and play some lake-lot volleyball with me."

"You do remember that I haven't played volleyball since college right?"

"I remember, that doesn't matter in lake lot volleyball. Besides, I need someone tall to protect me from my uncles."

"Why do you need protection from them?"

"They like to go all out when they play. That means jumping and diving and spiking all over the place. They usually try to avoid the women and children with their spikes but sometimes they get away from them. I usually end up on the ground when one of my uncles dives for a ball and sweeps my feet out from under me."

"All right I'll play volleyball if you come over afterwards and play some pool and watch a movie with me ."

"Don't you have to get some sleep before going to work tonight?" Dee asked.

"I figured we could play for a few hours, have an early supper while watching a movie and then I would try to grab a few hours of sleep before I had to go into work. I really need to do something to get tired enough to take a nap but I also can't sleep for more than 2 or 3 hours if I want to be able to sleep in the morning after work."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Is that how you normally try to spend your Sundays?"

"If I can't sleep later in the morning, which is most of the time, then yes. It is hard to get back on the work schedule even though I am only off of it for two days."

"My only question is do you have a movie out there that you want to watch or should I stop at a video store and pick one up?"

"I have direct TV out here so I'm sure we can find something to watch."

"Ok. I'll be there in about 20 minutes then."

"Hey Des?" Lita asked as Dee was hanging up the phone.

"Yeah." Dee answered.

"Why don't you bring a swimsuit with you this time. We can go for a swim in the lake before supper."

"All right." Dee hung up the phone and raced to get ready to go out to the lake. She was as good as her word and 20 minutes later she was driving down the road towards the lake lot and Lita's house. She decided to take advantage of their friendship and parked in front of Lita's garage rather than trying to find a place to park among the sea of relative's vehicles next door. As she got out of the car she hesitated, unsure whether she should go up to the front door or wander around to the back. The decision was taken out of her hands when Lita appeared at the front door.

"Hey Des ready to play some volleyball."

"You bet. Is it ok for me to park the car here?"

"Sure."

"Great, I wasn't looking forward to parking down the road and trekking back. It's nice to have connections."

"I had noticed that parking is at a premium when there's a get together over there."

"A premium is an understatement, and that is just if family is there. Add a few friends into the mix and we need a parking ramp."

"So, how many relatives are over there do you think?" Lita was suddenly a bit apprehensive at the thought of facing all of those people.

Especially since they were all related and would no doubt be very interested in Des' new friend. 'I guess it's a good thing they don't know all there is to know about me. I just hope that Des will still be my friend when she finds out.'

Dee looked over at Lita and noticed the fearful look and guessing at the thoughts racing through Lita's head. "Hey, don't worry about it. They are all harmless, really."

"Sure they are. Didn't you tell me that your uncle's girlfriend almost bolted after one get together. What if they suddenly decide that they hate their new neighbor. What if they don't think I'm good enough to be your friend?"

"I really don't care if they think you're good enough. I know you're good enough and that's all that matters."

"Yeah but even you don't know everything about me. What if you don't think I'm good enough."

"Where is this coming from? I thought we decided last night that there was nothing you could tell me or I could tell you that would change the fact that we were destined to be friends."

"Do you really believe that I am the friend you were destined to have?"

"Remember I said that Tracy stopped by this morning and woke me up?"

"Yes."

"She pointed something out to me that I can't believe I didn't notice before."

"What's that."

"The shadowwoman in my mom's vision had dark hair and blue eyes. The one person that I have met recently that matches that description is you."

"Wow, how could we have missed that?"

"I don't know but unless I miss my guess we are going to find out for sure if you are the woman in the vision."

"Why?"

"Because that is my mom's car and that means that Mom is one of the volleyball players. When she sees you we should know if you match the vision."

"Great. As if I wasn't under enough pressure already."

"Honestly Li, you have nothing to worry about."

"Li?"

"Do you mind? I have this really bad habit of shortening people's names. If you don't like it I'll call you Lita."

"No. I like it. It's just that I have been called Lita all my life and no one has ever felt the need to make it any shorter than it already is. For some reason Li seems right, as if I was just waiting for you to say it."

They walked down towards the volleyball court and began the long ritual of meeting Dee's relatives. Once again Dee was right. When she introduced Lita to her mother all their doubts disappeared. "Oh my God!" Dee's mother gasped. Dee looked at Lita and smiled. "So mom is it her?" Dee couldn't help but ask.

"I never really thought there was anyone out there who would fit. There is no doubt though, those are the eyes in my vision. I have never seen a blue that blue anywhere else." Dee's mom couldn't seem to tear her eyes from Lita's face.

"Mom, this is Lita. Lita, this is my mother Mary." Dee introduced them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mary." Lita said shyly. "May I call you Mary."

"It's nice to meet you too Lita. Of course you may call me Mary."

The rest of the introductions went just as well and soon they were all embroiled in the volleyball wars. After a few games Lita dubbed the games the volleyball wars and Dee couldn't see any reason to dispute the title. In fact, it seemed like her uncles were playing rougher than usual.

She had to ask Tracy about it. Tracy seemed to feel that they were just trying to impress Lita, either that or they were trying to test her mettle.

"Why would they want to do that?" Dee was sincerely baffled at this theory.

"Dee, they want to make sure she can hold her own with this family. If she is destined to be your friend and get you through some trials in the near future she will have to be tough. I think they are trying to see if she is going to be tough enough."

"Tracy! She's a corrections officer for heaven's sake. I think she's tough enough."

"Yeah but you know your uncles, they have to prove it themselves."

"Well, I think I am going to rescue her and go for a swim."

"You are going to swim!?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Dee you haven't been swimming in this lake for years. I thought you hated it."

"I guess I just never had the right person to swim with either."

"Ok. By the way, I don't think you are going to have to twist your mom's arm to get her to put Lita on the volleyball team. I think she is duly impressed with her skills. The height doesn't hurt either."

"I know. She's great. I can't wait to see her and Amy playing in the front row. All I have to do now is convince Lita to spend more time with this bunch."

"From the way she's been looking at you all day I don't think that will be a problem."

"Really. She's been watching me?"

"Every chance she gets. Why do you think she almost got hit by that ball in the first game. She was busy watching you serve."

Dee couldn't help the blush that she could feel rising on her cheeks. "Um.. I think I'll go see if Li's ready for that swim now." She started to head back towards the court.

"Li huh, that's soo cute." Tracy's voice followed her, and the blush got darker.

Of course Lita noticed the heightened color right away. "What's the matter, your face is all red. Did you get too much sun." She thought she would have noticed if that was the case but she hadn't exactly been watching Des' face all afternoon. There were really too many other interesting parts to notice especially with those shorts and that swimsuit top on.

"Ah.. nothing's wrong I must have gotten too close to the grill. They are getting ready to start supper. Are you ready to go swimming?"

"Sure, but shouldn't we think about getting something for supper too?"

"I remember what your refrigerator looked like. Other than dessert there wasn't anything in it. I brought some cheddarwursts and a salad from the grocery store so I thought we could steal from the family again."

"Sounds good to me, I only have one question. What is a cheddarwurst?"

"It's a bratwurst with cheddar cheese inside. They will cook them all up, we can take our swim, and then grab the food and go next door to watch the movie."

"All right then, let's get wet."

"Now why does that sound familiar?" Dee said playfully as she followed Lita to the shoreline. They swam for 15 minutes or so and then noticed that everyone seemed to be congregating around the picnic table. "Looks like the food is done. Ready to settle down and start relaxing?" Dee asked.

"I think so. Let's see what's for supper."

They got out of the lake and ambled over to the table. After piling their plates with food they said goodbye to Dee's mom and headed over to Lita's house. "Is there any chance of getting another piece of pecan pie for dessert tonight?" Dee asked hopefully.

"Gee, how could I resist that look? I think I might be able to spare one more piece if you ask really nicely."

"I can do better than that. How about a back rub while we watch the movie?"

"Deal, that is the one thing guaranteed to put me to sleep though, you may have to let yourself out after the movie is over."

"No problem, as long as I get my pie before the back rub."

They took their plates into the living room and set them on the coffee table in front of the biggest couch Dee had ever seen. "Did you have this couch made special? I've never seen one this big before."

"When you are as tall as I am and as prone to falling asleep in front of the television a big couch is a necessity." Lita went into the kitchen to take two pieces of pie out of the freezer. "What do you want to drink?"

"Do you have any root beer?"

"A&W ok?"

"That's the best." Lita brought out two cans of root beer and turned the TV on. "There's a Doris Day movie on American Movie Classics in 5 minutes."

"Doris Day is my favorite actress from the 50's. Which one is it?"

"Pillow Talk with Rock Hudson."

"Perfect." They settled in to watch the movie and finish their supper. By the time they were finished Dee was thoroughly involved in the movie so Lita tossed their plates in the trash and dished up the pie and ice cream. "Thanks." Dee said distractedly as she took her pie and glass of milk from Lita without taking her eyes off the screen. Even though the movie had her undivided attention she couldn't help but close her eyes at the first bite of pie. Lita smiled and started on her own pie. When Dee was finished she looked over to Lita and asked. "Ready for that back rub now?"

"Yep, but don't get mad when I fall asleep on you. Finish the movie and then you can let yourself out. Once I fall asleep I probably won't wake up for a couple of hours."

"I promise not to get mad."

Lita stretched out on her stomach on the couch and Dee sat next to her on the edge. "Do you have enough room?" Lita asked.

"Li, this couch is so big I could probably lay down next to you and there would still be room left." 'Bad idea Dee, now how are you going to get that picture out of your head' she thought as Lita put her head back down. As Dee started the massage she continued the litany in her brain.

'How are you going to get the feel of her skin out of your thoughts, this might not have been such a good idea after all. Lita interrupted these thoughts that were running through Dee's mind faster than she could follow by asking. "Where did you learn to give back rubs?"

"My stepfather broke his back when he was 20 and has always had back pain. I used to rub his back all the time. I would rub his back with my feet and do my homework then rub with my hands for the last 10 minutes or so. He would pay me $10 a week to rub his back for an hour 3 or 4 nights."

"I can see why he would pay you. You are really good at it." They fell into silence as Dee became involved in the movie again and Lita relished the feel of Des' hands on her back. Pretty soon she fell asleep just like she promised. Dee kept rubbing after she knew Lita was asleep, enjoying the silky skin under her fingers. All to soon the movie ended and Dee knew that she should leave. She just couldn't seem to drag herself away from the peacefully sleeping woman. She decided to sit on the other end of the couch and watch another movie. 'After all she doesn't have an alarm clock out here. I really should stay and make sure she wakes up in time to get to work.' With staying justified in her own mind and another Doris Day movie on TV Dee settled into the corner of the couch and watched Lita sleep.

The second movie was just finishing and Dee was planning to wake Lita up when she looked over and noticed that the blue eyes were open and looking at her as if she wasn't sure she was actually seeing Dee there. "What time is it?" She asked.

"About quarter to ten. I was just going to wake you up."

"I thought you would have gone home by now. It couldn't have been fun to watch me sleep."

'You'd be surprised' Dee thought. "I was worried that you might not wake up in time and besides there was another Doris Day movie on. I was very happy."

"Thanks. I didn't think about setting an alarm." She also didn't tell Des that her internal clock wouldn't have let her oversleep. She was still trying to get over the fact that Des had cared enough to stick around. "I guess I had better get moving then and get ready for work."

"Yeah. I am going to head home and get some sleep myself. Will I talk to you tomorrow?"

"Absolutely, I'll give you a call. You get done around 4:00 right?"

"Right. I am usually home by 4:15. Have a good night at work."

"I'll try. Hopefully the guys won't be too restless." Lita walked Des over to the door. "Thanks again for making sure I got up in time."

"No problem. Talk to you tomorrow." Des walked to her car and waved one more time before getting in and driving off. Lita watched her go and then went in to get ready for work. As she walked into her bedroom the alarm that she had set that morning started buzzing. She shut it off and went to take a shower.

 By the time Lita was pulling into the parking lot of the prison prepared to start her shift Dee was comfortably snuggling into her bed with her journal and her book. She had kept a journal for as long as she could remember. Her mother told her that she had learned to read at a very early age and writing came shortly thereafter. For as long as she could remember she had always known how to read and write and she never went anywhere without a book and something to write on. Her second grade teacher had told her to start keeping a journal and to write in it every night before going to bed. As evidence to the fact that she took this advice to heart Dee now had 20 journals filled with all of her innermost thoughts and dreams from the time she was 8 years old. So on this evening as she contemplated the wonder of the last two days she was compelled to illustrate her thoughts in a poem rather than the normal ramblings of her journal.

Dee closed the journal with these words and settled down to read a few chapters in her book before going to sleep. She shut off the light a half an hour later. As she was drifting off into the arms of Morpheus an incredible sense of peace and happiness washed over her and she went to sleep with a smile on her face. At the same time Lita was just settling into her first break of the evening and, as seemed to happen whenever she had a free moment, her thoughts turned to her newfound friend. As she reflected on the events of the past two days a smile came to her lips and she realized that for the first time since her brother's murder she was happy. Her life was finally coming together and it looked like she might actually survive the events following the day her brother's murderer had been sent to her prison.

The next morning Dee was headed into Master Control; a little blue building that every employee had to pass through in order to get into the facility, it was one of those rare days when she was actually early for work. Dee was never late for work but there were a few days when she cut it kind of close. As she reached the door she almost ran into the person coming out.

"Excuse me." Dee mumbled without looking up.

"No problem." Not surprisingly, the way things had been going with them, the voice belonged to Lita. Truth be told, Lita had been waiting for Des to show up, she just didn't expect her to almost knock her over in the process.

"Lita! I was hoping to run into you."

"You succeeded quite well then."

"Oh! Sorry. How did the night shift go?"

"Pretty good, the natives were a little restless but no major incidents."

"I bet they were saving them for us. Mondays are always fun."

"Well, you're welcome to them. I get enough childishness from them during the rest of the week. Mondays are all yours."

"Thanks a lot!"

"How did you sleep?"

"Better than I have in a while actually. I had the best dream."

"You'll have to tell me about it."

"I guess, since you played a major part in it. I'll have to do it later though or I will be late. Now you go home and get some sleep, I'll talk to you later."

"Yes mom." Lita left with a smile and a promise to call when Dee got home from work. Dee walked over to the sallyport and scanned in her ID badge. When the system was ready she placed her hand in the scanner and walked into the sallyport. The sallyport was a system of two doors that each person had to go through. While in between the doors the person entering or exiting had to open their bags and show their IDs to the guard behind the desk. After everyone was checked the second door was opened and Dee was free to start the long trek across the yard to the education building. When she got to the building she had to stop at the officer's station there and turn in her car keys in order to get the keys to the general education rooms and offices. Then she could go into the basement and get to work. As she walked down the stairs to the basement she reflected on how much harder it was to come into the institution before she got her ID. Then she had to turn in her driver's license and get her hand stamped and have an escort across the yard.

After getting to the building she usually had a few minutes to put her stuff away before count began. Count was the most serious part of her job, of anyone's job actually. If count wasn't done right the whole institution had to be shut down until all the inmates were accounted for. When Dee had first started education's count was done in each room. Each instructor counting the students in their room, of course someone else had to come in and do a count as well so each room of students was counted twice. Then the numbers were turned into Master Control and all the inmates in the institution were accounted for. Now there were count lines. All the inmates were given a number and at 7:35 and 12:15 the inmates stood in a line in the gym on their number. In the basement there was a separate line so Dee's students didn't have to go upstairs and stand in the gym but they still had to stand on the line. If the count was wrong there would be a recount. If it still didn't clear the students were sent back to their living units for a room count. Then they stayed in their units for the rest of the day. In the years that Dee had been at the institution the students had only been sent to their units twice. There had been a lot of recounts but getting sent back to the units was a rare occurrence.

After count the real work began. Dee still couldn't get over the fact that she was able to work with such a different range of students. Literally by crossing the room she could go from working with a student who couldn't read or write past the third grade level to another student who was working on Geometry. Sometimes these students were even seated next to each other. The day went smoothly, for a Monday, and Des was walking through her front door at 4:15pm. As she stepped into her living room the phone started ringing.

"Joe's cookie factory which crumb do you want?" Dee answered, having a pretty good idea who was on the other end of the line.

"Mrs. Moore?" The voice on the other end asked hesitantly--it was definitely not Lita's voice.

"If you have to ask I'm not interested." Dee said as she hung up the phone. 'how do these telemarketers know when to call me?' Dee wondered as she put her lunch bag into the kitchen and hung up her coat. The phone started ringing again and this time Dee decided to answer normally. "Hello."

"Hey Des. How was work?"

"Hey Li. Not too bad. We had to send one guy to the bench. He decided he would rather sleep than work in class today."

"Nothing major then?"

"Nope. It was a very calm day, for a Monday."

"I was wondering if you wanted to run over to that Internet Service Provider with me?" Lita asked.

"Sure, but I think they're only open until 5:00 so we would have to hurry. I have a softball game at 7:30 too so we would have to be back into town by 7:00."

"I don't want to make you rush." Lita said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She didn't want Des to think she had to rearrange her life to suit her.

"Truthfully, it might be easier to wait until tomorrow. We would have time to go there, get the information you need to get set up and still have time to play with some web sites before having to shut it back down. Why don't you come to my house after I get off work and I can drive us to the shop. We can get you signed up and then go out to your place and get the computer ready to go. I'll make something for supper and we can watch a movie or something. Then I'll drive you back into pick up your car in time to get to work."

"Sounds like a good plan to me as long as you don't mind driving or cooking."

"Not a problem, really. I told you, I like to cook and I don't get nearly enough opportunities to do so." Des replied.

"All right. Then my next question is what should I go buy for you to make for supper? I don't have much food here you know."

"I remember. You don't need much for what I am thinking of. Do you have hamburger, sour cream, egg noodles, and a can of cream of mushroom soup out there?"

"Yeah." Lita said crossing her fingers. She didn't figure Des needed to know that she was planning to go shopping on the way home from work in the morning.

"Great. How does beef stroganoff sound?"

"Sounds good." Lita said filling out her shopping list with the ingredients Des mentioned. "By the way, where do you live?"

"I guess it would help if you knew that huh?" Des said laughing.

"Just a little bit." Des gave Lita the directions to her house and reluctantly they said goodbye and hung up so Des could get ready for her game.

 Lita hung up the phone and looked at the clock in her kitchen. 'What am I going to do for 6 hours?' she thought. She went into the living room and turned on the TV, there wasn't much on at 5:30 so she switched over to the country music video channel and went to shoot some pool. After three games she tossed the pool cue onto the table and wandered into the kitchen to see if she had anything worth eating for supper. Not surprisingly, nothing appealed to her so she went back out to the living room. She switched over to the news but that was too depressing so she shut the TV off and flipped through the latest issues of some magazines. Finally she gave up and decided to do what she had been thinking about ever since hanging up the phone; she grabbed her car keys and headed towards town. As she drove into town she decided to stop at Hardee's for supper. She knew where the softball diamonds were in town, they were kind of hard to miss, especially at night when the lights from the fields made it hard to see the stars. 'Ok. I'm at the park now what do I do? Des didn't exactly invite me down here. What if I make her nervous? What if she doesn't want me to meet the people she plays ball with? That's ridiculous,' she argued with herself, 'she wouldn't want me to bowl with her or invite me to play volleyball with her family if she didn't want me to meet people she knows.' Lita continued to debate as she drove into the park. 'Maybe I'll just watch from the car.' Now all I have to do is find out which diamond she's on. She drove all around the park checking the diamonds for that distinctive reddish-blond hair. Lita didn't have any luck until she got the idea of rolling down her window. Sure enough, halfway through the second circuit of the park Lita heard Des' voice. After that, it was easy to find the person to match it. She was surprised to see that they weren't actually on the field yet, it was already 7:35.

Lita pulled into a parking spot where she could see the field clearly and shut off the engine. Des and her sister Amy were playing catch nearby to warm up. As usual Des was chatting a mile a minute. Lita couldn't help but smile as she watched from the safety of her car.

"Is Steve bringing the kids down to watch the game tonight?" Des asked.

"I doubt it. Karina has 'school' tomorrow so I'm hoping she's in bed by now.

"That's right. I forgot she was in that 'get ready for school' camp this week."

"It's going to be a big change for her this year."

"I suppose so. Going to school everyday with a younger brother in the room next to you trying to keep you up all night. I have vague memories of a situation like that."

"Hey, I don't want to hear any complaints. You got your own room because I wouldn't let you go to sleep."

"I know. I know. What are you going to do though. Karina and Kyle already have their own rooms."

Amy's house had a unique floorplan. The upstairs consisted of three bedrooms. A master bedroom and the two kids' rooms. The unique part of it came from the fact that to get to one of the kids' rooms you had to go through the other one. This made it very easy for Kyle to bother Karina at bedtime. All he had to do was go to their shared door.

"Steve and I were going to try changing Kyle's bedtime to half an hour after Karina goes to bed. That way she would be sleeping by the time he came to bed."

"The only problem would be getting Karina to go to bed while Kyle gets to stay up. Especially since he's younger than she is." Des glanced around at the cars in the lot.

"I know, but we are going to give it a try. It's going to be hard at first but if she sees it as alone time with Steve or I it could work."

"Yeah it could." Des answered offhandedly looking around the park again.

"The game's over. You ready to play?"

"Yeah. I'll be there in a minute." Des had the eerie feeling that she was being watched, she couldn't shake that feeling. She continued to scan the people around her as she tied the laces on her spikes. Finally, she spotted Lita's car and released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She looked over to the field and saw that she had time before the game started so she walked over to Lita's car.

"Hey stranger." Des said. "Long time no see. What's up?"

"I didn't really have anything to do tonight and there wasn't anything to eat in the house so I came in to get a burger and thought I would come down here and see if I could find you, maybe watch the game. Is that ok?"

"That's fine, really. If I had known you liked softball I would have invited you."

"Are you sure? I don't have to stay if it'll make you nervous or something."

"Really Lita it's fine, besides, I already know I'm not that good a player so you can't make me nervous."

"Dee!" Amy shouted from the dugout. "Let's go!"

Des waved and turned back to Lita. "C'mon out to the bench so we can talk." She ran for the field.

Lita sat in the car for a moment, finding it hard to believe that this woman really wanted to spend more time with her. The whole time she had been talking to Des she had been silently bracing herself for Des to tell her to go away. She was waiting to be told that Des wanted to spend some time by herself and instead she was invited over to the bench. This kind of acceptance just wasn't what she was used to. Nevertheless, she was happy to get out of the car and move to the bleachers next to the dugout. She had a much better view of the game from here.

Des' team was in the field when Lita got to the bleachers so she had a few minutes to watch before Des was back in the dugout.

"Nice try." Lita said as Des came in from the field.

"Huh?"

"Trying to tell me you aren't very good. I saw that catch."

"Oh well...anyway, what did you do with your evenings before I came along to bug you?"

"Not much really; I played pool, watched TV, went to movies occasionally. I wasn't interested in doing any of those things tonight so I thought I would see if I could find you. Why did you guys get started so late?"

"Typical softball night. Unless you play the first game you can almost plan on starting late. The game before us went extra innings and it was a high scoring game so it took awhile to finish up."

"Dee you're on deck." Amy called to her.

"Gotta go."

The person in front of Dee made the 3rd out so she had to go back into the field. When they came in again Des was the lead off hitter. She got a nice pitch and got a double out of it. I took two more hitters to get her home putting her team in the lead by two.

"Nice hit." Lita said as Des came over to join her on the bleachers.

"Thanks." Des replied, drinking from her water bottle. "Man it's hot out there tonight. The air is so heavy it's like running through water."

"Is it always so humid here?"

"Welcome to Minnesota in August. Air so thick you can see it. If you can see through the mosquitos that is."

They spent the rest of the game chatting between innings. When the game was finally over Des' team had hung on to win 8-7. It was almost 9:00.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks. We did pretty good. The next game wasn't delayed by us. There have been times when the 8:30 game didn't start until 10:00. I hate those late games. Even if they start on time it's at least 9:30 before they're done. It takes awhile to wind down afterwards too. You can't just go home and go straight to sleep. Getting up at 6:00am after a late game can be terrible."

"It must be hard for people who work my shift too. I couldn't play in a game that didn't start til 10:00."

"We've been pretty lucky. We've only had to play two late games and they've both started on time."

"So what are you going to do with the rest of your night?" Lita asked. "Now that the game's over."

"I didn't really have any plans. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I've still got an hour or so before I need to get ready for work."

"Want to go to DQ and get some ice cream to celebrate our win?"

"Sure."

"Can you drive? I came with my sister."

"No problem."

"Great. I'll go tell Amy." Dee went over to her sister and Lita went over to unlock the car.

"This will be good. You can take me home and that way you'll know where the house is for tomorrow." They drove away from the park still talking. Neither of them noticed the man standing by the tree watching them leave.

By 10:00 Lita was pulling up in front of Des' house.

"I'll see you tomorrow then right?" Des asked opening the door.

"Right. See you then." Lita replied. She waited until Des had opened her door and gone inside before driving back to her house to get ready for work.

 Continued in Part 3

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