Randall trudged down the hallway, assorted gear over his shoulder. He was sweating to death! The lights on the ceiling didn't help; they were like big glaring eyes, staring at him. Like somebody's big glaring eyes. Spying a row of chairs, he slumped down in one and waited for Cally to finish packing.

He hardly relaxed before he heard a door being locked and somebody playing with keys. Then, the clomp of big feet in even bigger boots. Finally, a light kiss on his cheek confirmed that it was either Cally or his mother who now stood in front of him. A quick look dismissed the latter.

"Hey, wake up, you'll have plenty of time to sleep on the bus." The familiar eyes he had grown to love teased him. Then she smiled, one so sweet it would kill a diabetic, yet so alluring that he would have followed her into a door shredder, if that was where they were going.

He got up and grabbed his stuff. "I'll lead," he grinned. "Just in case there's a puddle you might wind up stepping in."

"That would be nice," she purred, something that isn't easy for just any dog to do, "if you knew the way."

"But I do," he said, slipping the left of his first pair of arms around her. "The front doors are thataway," he said, pointing in any old direction.

"Front doors?" She stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "You have no idea, do you?"

"Uhhh, now that you say I don't, I'm starting to wonder."

"I always come prepared." Rummaging through her pockets, she pulled out a burgundy scarf.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"Blindfold."

"Why?"

"Well, since you have no idea where I'm going to take you, I thought I'd make it a little more fun." She tied the scarf around his head. "Can you see anything?"

"Yes."

"Honest?"

"No."

"Thanks a lot. I'll remember that the next time you get a splinter and come crying, "Cawwy Wawwy, pweese fix me. Me got boo-boo."" She pulled him down the hallway.

"I never say that!"

"In those words, no, I'll give you that, ya big baby." He knew he was near an elevator because he heard the rumblings the gears made. "Here, you press the button." Cally guided his hand to a flat panel. He pushed the button in.

A few seconds later, he heard the doors roll open, and Cally lead him through them. Then, he heard the doors close and felt the elevator descend.

"Well, we're going down, so that eliminates the roof." He leaned against the elevator walls, slightly annoyed by the cheesy music that played.

"Yeah, I have an uncontrollable urge to push you off the top of the building right now." She giggled. "So, never been skiing before. Then what's with the 'ski accident' at age thirteen in your medical records?"

"That was just what we called it."

"Too embarrassed to tell the truth?"

"You could say that, yes."

"Come on, tell me what happened." She paused. "Hey, I won't breathe a word to Bob."

"You think that's why I won't tell you?"

"Yes. So tell me."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"You think that if you just raise your voice you can win?"

"Of course."

"Fine." He hesitated a little. "I fell out of our car."

"You what?" Cally couldn't help herself. "Say that again. Slower this time."

"I, fell , out , of , our, car. Seriously. It was my 13th birthday and we were living in the mountains, but none of us had ever learned to ski. And we were going to go sledding, that is, my dad, me, and a couple of my buddies. Well, we had the worst car in the world, practically falling apart.Recently, the back right door lock had gotten jammed in the open postion, so Dad had to tie the door closed every time. I had to use the bathroom en route, and Dad let me out. When I got back in, I thought everyhting was okay. Then, a couple of minutes later, we skidded on a patch of ice, and the door flew open, and I slid right out of the car. Somehow I'd forgotten my seatbelt. Anyway, I landed right on my leg, and I broke it. Everybody got out of the car, and tried to help me, making jokes about the whole thing, and finally Dad said we'd better go to the hospital, but first get me off the road. It wasn't a busy street, but a quiet mountain road. And then he did a very strange thing. He told the guys to pack snow all over me first. I was like, Dad, have you gone mad? But he didn't want to be embarrassed by the fact that we had a junk car, so that's what happened."

He knew she was staring at him. Probably reconsidering their entire relationship. But...no.

"You should submit that story to a magazine. Well, not exactly the way you told it,...expand on the details and you might very well have a winner."

"No kidding?"

"Would I ever kid you?"

"Yes."

The elevator doors opened and she dragged him along. He felt like a pet on a leash. "Well, not this time. Come along."

He still wasn't sure where she was taking him. He had an inkling, though,when she pulled a card out of her pocket and ran it through a security lock. He denied it vehemently to himself until he was 100 positive he recognized the same clicking sound he had heard several times a day for the past few months.

"Okay, you can untie that thing now, sug." Randall complied, his top hands being the most convenient for the task, as he didn't have to reach so high to grab the tight knots and work them loose. It was when he had fully untied all the knots (she'd used at least 7) and had rubbed the false sleep out of his eyes that came with the blinding, that he finally came face to face with it.

"Cally, it's..." He was at a loss for words.

"Yeah, the mail door. We're crossing the border, Ran. Why else did you think they wanted to know who on the other side wanted our heads on a platter?"

He couldn't argue with that. Instead, he opened the door and walked in to the apartment room, crossing once again into his safety zone between the two worlds he straddled every day, Cally in tow, staring at all the folks who invaded it like roaches.

Yes, Cally. Why else indeed?