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<blockquote data-quote="orchid blossom" data-source="post: 2001711" data-attributes="member: 12815">Round 1 orchid blossom vs. HellefireRedeploymentThe match scraped across the seat of the bench and flared to life.&nbsp; Harold put the cigarette to his lips and breathed in, the orange flame flickering across his face as the end of the paper roll lit and smoldered.&nbsp; He breathed out a puff of white smoke and leaned back on the park bench.&nbsp; A young couple passed him, the woman waving her hand in front of her face and squinting her eyes at him.&nbsp; Harold just took another long draw and sighed as he released it.Retirement suited him.&nbsp; Traveling all over the world was a tiring way to make a living, especially when you didn't travel alone.&nbsp; The others would still be out there following their orders.&nbsp; Cover a war here, a famine there.&nbsp; The occasional plague.&nbsp; Of course, Richard was busy wherever they went, but lately his years had been showing too.&nbsp; It could be morbid work and Harold was pretty certain that Rich would follow his example in a couple more years.It had been an interesting life, he couldn't deny that.&nbsp; But this bench was a good thing too.&nbsp; And he knew exactly where he'd be and what he'd be doing an hour, two hours, two days from now.&nbsp;&nbsp; Get up in the morning, eat, walk in the park, watch some TV, go to the store.&nbsp; Smoke plenty of cigarettes.&nbsp; Not very exciting, but he liked it that way..........................................Richard pulled up on the reins and looked at his two companions.&nbsp; &quot;Anyone see him?&quot;Earl's sunken eyes scanned the wide meadow and the trees beyond.&nbsp; &quot;Naw, and I lost the trail.&quot;&nbsp; He rubbed his chin with an emaciated hand.&nbsp; &quot;Was I this bad?&quot;The third man nudged his horse forward.&nbsp; &quot;I know I wasn't,&quot; he said in a drawling accent.&nbsp; Rich nodded.&nbsp; &quot;You were fine once we convinced you that it was a good idea to keep the weapons hidden.&nbsp; I swear Colin, you got....&quot;&nbsp; He stopped as a pressure formed at the back of his mind.&nbsp; &quot;Damn it.&quot;&quot;Got a bead on him?&quot; Colin asked.&quot;Yeah, he's fading fast.&nbsp; That way.&quot;They nudged their horses into a trot and passed quickly through the meadow and into the trees.&nbsp; &quot;That barn there,&quot; Rich pointed to a ramshackle structure across the clearing they entered a few minutes later.&nbsp; &quot;He's dim.&quot;&quot;In more ways than one,&quot; Colin said dryly as they crossed the intervening space.Rich sighed.&nbsp; &quot;No need to hurry now.&nbsp; He's still in there, what's left of him anyway.&quot;&quot;Got yourself some work to do,&quot; Earl said in his parched voice that always made Rich want to offer the man a glass of water.The three reached the barn and tied their horses outside before entering the crumbling structure.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18524" target="_blank">Colin tilted his head looking down at the pile of horse and man in the dirt.&nbsp; &quot;Do people really bend that way?&quot;</a>&quot;Apparently, but it doesn't appear to be good for your health,&quot; Rich said.&nbsp; &quot;Let's get Genevieve up.&nbsp; She never did like Bruce there, did she?&quot;&nbsp; After the horse was up again, Rich knelt down next to his short-lived comrade.&nbsp; He laid his own age-spotted hand on the young man's chest and waited for the soul to float up.&nbsp; He turned his hand over and looked at the flickering light above it.&nbsp; &quot;You know the way, go on then.&quot;&nbsp; Rich began to close his fist and the light dimmed and disappeared.&quot;So what next?&quot; Colin asked.'We find the nearest portal and greet his replacement.&quot;..................................................<a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18522" target="_blank">Harold put his hands down on the mattress and pushed himself up until he was sitting slumped on the edge of the bed.</a>&nbsp; He scratched his stomach and yawned, then reached over his shoulders to rub his neck.&nbsp; The soft down of feathers ticked his arm as he pulled it back and turned to toss the pillows back to the edge of the bed.Feathers.&quot;Oh no.&nbsp; No, no, no.&quot;&nbsp; He turned one way and then the other, trying to at least get a peek at what was protruding from his back.&nbsp; Seeing them from his angle was impossible.&nbsp; Bones creaked as he stood and looked in the mirror.&nbsp; Lately he had just been seeing an aging, balding, beer-bellied old man, and he liked it that way.Harold looked toward the cross on the wall accusingly.&nbsp; &quot;You promised!&quot;I did, but you know how this works.&quot;So my replacement?&quot;It happens sometimes.&nbsp; We choose the horsemen carefully, but every once in a while one gets drunk on power and goes on a binge.&nbsp; He got himself crushed by his horse and we hadn't tapped a replacement for him yet.&nbsp; It'll only be a few days.The old man sat down on the bed with a harrumph.&nbsp; &quot;I seem to remember you saying that to me when I took the job.&quot;Well, we liked you.&nbsp; And no one ever said complete disclosure was part of your contract.&nbsp; It won't be hard work, I'm not planning apocalypses for the next few months.&quot;But the kid left a mess, right?&quot;Opened a portal, used an interesting disease he found on the other side to paralyze some people.&nbsp; He said something about how it was like the Joker in the first Batman movie.&quot;Teach you to choose comic book fans as&nbsp; horsemen.&quot;&nbsp; Harold pulled a cigarette out of his nearly empty pack on the bedside table.&nbsp; &quot;So what do I have to do?&quot; he asked............................................Harold rubbed his backside.&nbsp; &quot;Come on Genny girl, take it easy on me.&quot;&quot;You haven't been gone that long, already lost your seat for the saddle?&quot; Rich asked.&quot;Already lost a lot.&nbsp; Including those wings, thankfully.&quot;&quot;He thinks it's funny.&nbsp; We all get them when we're first called.&nbsp; Good thing they figured out it was hard to be inconspicuous with wings on your back.&quot;&quot;Turns out it's hard even when you don't have them.&nbsp; I knew I should have gone into hiding when I retired.&quot;&quot;He'd have found you anyway,&quot; Rich chuckled.&quot;Yeah, but at least I'd have tried.&nbsp; You know how this is, after a few years you lose the lust for it.&nbsp; It becomes just another job.&nbsp; A disgusting, dirty job that you hate yourself for.&nbsp; At least my job this time is to cure instead of inflict.&quot;&quot;I don't hate myself,&quot; Rich started slowly.&nbsp; &quot;I collect the dead, I don't cause their deaths.&nbsp; But yeah, I'm tired.&nbsp; I remember a long time ago, before I was called, when I saw people happy.&nbsp; Now everywhere I go there's grief.&nbsp; And if it wasn't already there, those two up there bring it.&quot;&quot;So did I.&nbsp; I think you got the best of this gig at least, Rich.&nbsp; People start their own wars, but Colin there gets right in the thick of it when he gets the orders.&nbsp; Earl blights the land and brings starvation.&nbsp; And I bring the sickness and the pain.&nbsp; You get the part where you send them to the better place.&quot;&quot;It is, you know.&nbsp; A better place.&nbsp; In the end the suffering here doesn't matter.&quot;&quot;Try telling that to someone you just infected with smallpox.&quot;&nbsp; Harold pulled out a cigarette and lit it.&nbsp; &quot;Where's that damn portal anyway?&quot;&quot;We're almost there.&nbsp; A bridge another mile or so up the road.&quot;They rode in silence for that last mile until Harold saw a red covered bridge spanning a quiet stream.&nbsp; An idyllic place; not where one would expect a disfiguring disease to come from.&nbsp; &quot;All right, let's get this damn thing over with.&quot;Harold rode alone toward the bridge, stopping about thirty feet from the opening.&nbsp; He began to mutter under his breath in a language so old it even sounded dusty.&nbsp; He repeated the chant once, then again, and waited.&nbsp; Just when he thought he'd been so rusty he'd gotten it wrong, a face began to push its way through the opening.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18523" target="_blank">It took up the entire opening for just a moment</a> until it popped all the way out and a normal-sized man came tumbling out onto the grass.&quot;You're not Bruce!&quot; he said, scrambling to his feet.&quot;No, I'm not.&nbsp; I'm smarter than he was.&quot;&quot;You know, I don't think I want to be here, I think I'll just go...&quot;Harold waved his hand and the portal closed with a sucking sound.&nbsp; &quot;Where was that you were thinking of going?&quot;&quot;Ah, nowhere.&nbsp; Why would I want to leave you gentlemen?&nbsp; So, where is my friend Bruce?&quot;Harold glanced up at the sky.&quot;Ah.&nbsp; Well, why don't we get down to business then.&nbsp; How can I help you?&quot;&quot;Bruce came round here looking for something interesting.&nbsp; I want it.&quot;The man seemed to shrink a bit.&nbsp; &quot;Blunt aren't you?&quot;&quot;It saves time.&quot;&quot;Bruce came here, but I didn't give him anything.&nbsp; You know how it goes sometimes with a new horseman.&nbsp; He finds out he can go all sorts of places, starts having himself a good time.&nbsp; You got a problem with that?&quot;Harold stepped forward until he was almost nose to nose with the man.&nbsp; &quot;I got a problem with freelancers, and it seems you and Bruce were doing a little outside work.&quot;&quot;Nope, nothing.&nbsp; Not me.&nbsp; I know better.&nbsp; Bruce too.&quot;&quot;You know, Bruce isn't coming back here to give you a hard time about telling us anything.&nbsp; But my friends Colin, Earl, and Rich over there; they have years of experience in giving people a hard time.&nbsp; And I have more than any of them.&quot;&quot;What do they do?&quot; he asked in a shaky voice.&quot;Come on.&nbsp; You know who Bruce was, you must know the other three.&nbsp; I'm betting you're starting to feel talkative.&nbsp; Rich hasn't made quota yet today.&quot;The gulp was audible as the man considered that.&nbsp; &quot;Under quota, huh?&quot;&quot;Way under,&quot; Rich said from behind Harold.&quot;Way under,&quot; the stranger repeated.&nbsp; A moment later the words began to tumble out.........................................The modern world just wasn't set up for horses.&nbsp; Instead the four horsemen arrived at the mall on motorcycles.&nbsp; The horses were faster, but conspicuous. like wings.&nbsp; ‘You might want to consider that,’ Harold thought, directing it toward the sky.They strode through the mall and the holiday shoppers that thronged the corridors all made from for the group in motorcycle leathers.&nbsp; It only took a few minutes to reach the anchor store.&nbsp; All four stopped and stared at what the shoppers took for a display.&nbsp; There were three women and one man, apparently mannequins.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18525" target="_blank">The grotesquely distorted mouths and jaws didn't bother the shoppers who seemed to think they were expressions of delight with the newest techno toy they held.</a>Harold shook his head.&nbsp; &quot;He hated perfume girls that much?&quot;&quot;He was allergic,&quot; Colin said, weaving his way through the paralyzed people.&nbsp; &quot;So what do you do now?&quot;Harold waited until Colin was close again and kept his voice low.&nbsp; &quot;The cure is easy.&nbsp; We just need to get them out of here so they can wake up without witnesses.&nbsp; Earl, think you can make everyone go away?&quot;&quot;I can thin the crowd out some.&nbsp; Everyone's on a diet these days, some of them will just ignore hunger.&quot;&quot;Do what you can.&nbsp; Then we act like thugs and steal something.&quot;They waited as Earl's eyes seemed to sink even farther in and his form became more emaciated.&nbsp; Most of the shoppers began muttering to each other about being hungry and started off down the corridor.&quot;The kids who work in the food court aren't going to be happy,&quot; Colin chuckled.&quot;Ok, I'm not going to be able to run,&quot; Harold warned them.&nbsp; &quot;At least not far.&nbsp; I think I can make it to the bikes, but I may need you guys to cover me on the way out.&nbsp; Ready?&nbsp; Everybody grab and go.&nbsp; Now.&quot;The four each snatched up one of the mannequins and took off down the corridor.&nbsp; It was mostly deserted with the crowds huddled around the intersecting corridor where the food court was.&nbsp; Colin took a look behind them.&nbsp; “Mall security, my department.&quot;&nbsp; He slowed down for a minute and focused on the men running up behind them.&nbsp; A moment later one tripped and crashed into the other, knocking him on the head with his walkie-talkie in the process.&nbsp; Pursuit stopped as the men wrestled on the floor throwing punches.&quot;It shouldn't be that easy,&quot; Colin said as he caught up to the others.&nbsp; &quot;Let's get the hell out of here.&quot;................................Harold hadn't lied when he said the cure was the easy part.&nbsp; The freelancer at the portal had told him what he needed, and any disease caused by a horseman could be cured by a horseman.&nbsp; The right horseman, anyway.&nbsp; The victims slept immediately after they were cured.&nbsp; On the outside they had only been standing still, but fighting disease was exhausting.&nbsp; Especially when you were losing.Harold went outside the shed where they had brought the victims.&nbsp; ‘OK?’ he thought up to the sky, not really expecting a reply.................................&quot;They're doing fine, you did good work,&quot; Rich said as he brought in Harold's mail and tossed it on the TV tray.Harold took another drag off his cigarette.&nbsp; &quot;Good to hear.&nbsp; Don't imagine they're going to want to smile again for a while though.&quot;&quot;Probably not,&quot; Rich laughed and sat down on the sofa.&nbsp; &quot;How's the new kid working out?&quot;&quot;Steady, much better than Bruce.&nbsp; He was studying to be a doctor.&nbsp; Ironic, huh?&nbsp; Seems to work though.&nbsp; He looks at the whole Pestilence thing in a kind of clinical way.&quot;&quot;You have to, otherwise you couldn't do it.&nbsp; When it starts to bother you it's time to retire.&quot;Rich looked around the plain, smoke-filled room.&nbsp; &quot;Yeah.&nbsp; You really like this?&quot;&quot;It's starting to get a bit dull, but I do like it.&nbsp; I think I might go out and find something to do soon though.&nbsp; Volunteer stuff maybe.&quot;Rich nodded as Harold looked at the smoldering cigarette in his hand.&nbsp; &quot;Those things'll kill you, you know.&quot;“Yeah, I know,&quot; he said and crushed the half smoked cigarette on the ashtray.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="orchid blossom, post: 2001711, member: 12815"] Round 1 orchid blossom vs. Hellefire Redeployment The match scraped across the seat of the bench and flared to life. Harold put the cigarette to his lips and breathed in, the orange flame flickering across his face as the end of the paper roll lit and smoldered. He breathed out a puff of white smoke and leaned back on the park bench. A young couple passed him, the woman waving her hand in front of her face and squinting her eyes at him. Harold just took another long draw and sighed as he released it. Retirement suited him. Traveling all over the world was a tiring way to make a living, especially when you didn't travel alone. The others would still be out there following their orders. Cover a war here, a famine there. The occasional plague. Of course, Richard was busy wherever they went, but lately his years had been showing too. It could be morbid work and Harold was pretty certain that Rich would follow his example in a couple more years. It had been an interesting life, he couldn't deny that. But this bench was a good thing too. And he knew exactly where he'd be and what he'd be doing an hour, two hours, two days from now. Get up in the morning, eat, walk in the park, watch some TV, go to the store. Smoke plenty of cigarettes. Not very exciting, but he liked it that way. ......................................... Richard pulled up on the reins and looked at his two companions. "Anyone see him?" Earl's sunken eyes scanned the wide meadow and the trees beyond. "Naw, and I lost the trail." He rubbed his chin with an emaciated hand. "Was I this bad?" The third man nudged his horse forward. "I know I wasn't," he said in a drawling accent. Rich nodded. "You were fine once we convinced you that it was a good idea to keep the weapons hidden. I swear Colin, you got...." He stopped as a pressure formed at the back of his mind. "Damn it." "Got a bead on him?" Colin asked. "Yeah, he's fading fast. That way." They nudged their horses into a trot and passed quickly through the meadow and into the trees. "That barn there," Rich pointed to a ramshackle structure across the clearing they entered a few minutes later. "He's dim." "In more ways than one," Colin said dryly as they crossed the intervening space. Rich sighed. "No need to hurry now. He's still in there, what's left of him anyway." "Got yourself some work to do," Earl said in his parched voice that always made Rich want to offer the man a glass of water. The three reached the barn and tied their horses outside before entering the crumbling structure. [url= http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18524]Colin tilted his head looking down at the pile of horse and man in the dirt. "Do people really bend that way?"[/url] "Apparently, but it doesn't appear to be good for your health," Rich said. "Let's get Genevieve up. She never did like Bruce there, did she?" After the horse was up again, Rich knelt down next to his short-lived comrade. He laid his own age-spotted hand on the young man's chest and waited for the soul to float up. He turned his hand over and looked at the flickering light above it. "You know the way, go on then." Rich began to close his fist and the light dimmed and disappeared. "So what next?" Colin asked. 'We find the nearest portal and greet his replacement." .................................................. [url= http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18522]Harold put his hands down on the mattress and pushed himself up until he was sitting slumped on the edge of the bed.[/url] He scratched his stomach and yawned, then reached over his shoulders to rub his neck. The soft down of feathers ticked his arm as he pulled it back and turned to toss the pillows back to the edge of the bed. Feathers. "Oh no. No, no, no." He turned one way and then the other, trying to at least get a peek at what was protruding from his back. Seeing them from his angle was impossible. Bones creaked as he stood and looked in the mirror. Lately he had just been seeing an aging, balding, beer-bellied old man, and he liked it that way. Harold looked toward the cross on the wall accusingly. "You promised!" [i]I did, but you know how this works.[/i] "So my replacement?" [i]It happens sometimes. We choose the horsemen carefully, but every once in a while one gets drunk on power and goes on a binge. He got himself crushed by his horse and we hadn't tapped a replacement for him yet. It'll only be a few days.[/i] The old man sat down on the bed with a harrumph. "I seem to remember you saying that to me when I took the job." [i]Well, we liked you. And no one ever said complete disclosure was part of your contract. It won't be hard work, I'm not planning apocalypses for the next few months.[/i] "But the kid left a mess, right?" [i]Opened a portal, used an interesting disease he found on the other side to paralyze some people. He said something about how it was like the Joker in the first Batman movie.[/i] "Teach you to choose comic book fans as horsemen." Harold pulled a cigarette out of his nearly empty pack on the bedside table. "So what do I have to do?" he asked. ........................................... Harold rubbed his backside. "Come on Genny girl, take it easy on me." "You haven't been gone that long, already lost your seat for the saddle?" Rich asked. "Already lost a lot. Including those wings, thankfully." "He thinks it's funny. We all get them when we're first called. Good thing they figured out it was hard to be inconspicuous with wings on your back." "Turns out it's hard even when you don't have them. I knew I should have gone into hiding when I retired." "He'd have found you anyway," Rich chuckled. "Yeah, but at least I'd have tried. You know how this is, after a few years you lose the lust for it. It becomes just another job. A disgusting, dirty job that you hate yourself for. At least my job this time is to cure instead of inflict." "I don't hate myself," Rich started slowly. "I collect the dead, I don't cause their deaths. But yeah, I'm tired. I remember a long time ago, before I was called, when I saw people happy. Now everywhere I go there's grief. And if it wasn't already there, those two up there bring it." "So did I. I think you got the best of this gig at least, Rich. People start their own wars, but Colin there gets right in the thick of it when he gets the orders. Earl blights the land and brings starvation. And I bring the sickness and the pain. You get the part where you send them to the better place." "It is, you know. A better place. In the end the suffering here doesn't matter." "Try telling that to someone you just infected with smallpox." Harold pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "Where's that damn portal anyway?" "We're almost there. A bridge another mile or so up the road." They rode in silence for that last mile until Harold saw a red covered bridge spanning a quiet stream. An idyllic place; not where one would expect a disfiguring disease to come from. "All right, let's get this damn thing over with." Harold rode alone toward the bridge, stopping about thirty feet from the opening. He began to mutter under his breath in a language so old it even sounded dusty. He repeated the chant once, then again, and waited. Just when he thought he'd been so rusty he'd gotten it wrong, a face began to push its way through the opening. [url= http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18523]It took up the entire opening for just a moment[/url] until it popped all the way out and a normal-sized man came tumbling out onto the grass. "You're not Bruce!" he said, scrambling to his feet. "No, I'm not. I'm smarter than he was." "You know, I don't think I want to be here, I think I'll just go..." Harold waved his hand and the portal closed with a sucking sound. "Where was that you were thinking of going?" "Ah, nowhere. Why would I want to leave you gentlemen? So, where is my friend Bruce?" Harold glanced up at the sky. "Ah. Well, why don't we get down to business then. How can I help you?" "Bruce came round here looking for something interesting. I want it." The man seemed to shrink a bit. "Blunt aren't you?" "It saves time." "Bruce came here, but I didn't give him anything. You know how it goes sometimes with a new horseman. He finds out he can go all sorts of places, starts having himself a good time. You got a problem with that?" Harold stepped forward until he was almost nose to nose with the man. "I got a problem with freelancers, and it seems you and Bruce were doing a little outside work." "Nope, nothing. Not me. I know better. Bruce too." "You know, Bruce isn't coming back here to give you a hard time about telling us anything. But my friends Colin, Earl, and Rich over there; they have years of experience in giving people a hard time. And I have more than any of them." "What do they do?" he asked in a shaky voice. "Come on. You know who Bruce was, you must know the other three. I'm betting you're starting to feel talkative. Rich hasn't made quota yet today." The gulp was audible as the man considered that. "Under quota, huh?" "Way under," Rich said from behind Harold. "Way under," the stranger repeated. A moment later the words began to tumble out. ........................................ The modern world just wasn't set up for horses. Instead the four horsemen arrived at the mall on motorcycles. The horses were faster, but conspicuous. like wings. ‘You might want to consider that,’ Harold thought, directing it toward the sky. They strode through the mall and the holiday shoppers that thronged the corridors all made from for the group in motorcycle leathers. It only took a few minutes to reach the anchor store. All four stopped and stared at what the shoppers took for a display. There were three women and one man, apparently mannequins. [url= http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18525]The grotesquely distorted mouths and jaws didn't bother the shoppers who seemed to think they were expressions of delight with the newest techno toy they held.[/url] Harold shook his head. "He hated perfume girls that much?" "He was allergic," Colin said, weaving his way through the paralyzed people. "So what do you do now?" Harold waited until Colin was close again and kept his voice low. "The cure is easy. We just need to get them out of here so they can wake up without witnesses. Earl, think you can make everyone go away?" "I can thin the crowd out some. Everyone's on a diet these days, some of them will just ignore hunger." "Do what you can. Then we act like thugs and steal something." They waited as Earl's eyes seemed to sink even farther in and his form became more emaciated. Most of the shoppers began muttering to each other about being hungry and started off down the corridor. "The kids who work in the food court aren't going to be happy," Colin chuckled. "Ok, I'm not going to be able to run," Harold warned them. "At least not far. I think I can make it to the bikes, but I may need you guys to cover me on the way out. Ready? Everybody grab and go. Now." The four each snatched up one of the mannequins and took off down the corridor. It was mostly deserted with the crowds huddled around the intersecting corridor where the food court was. Colin took a look behind them. “Mall security, my department." He slowed down for a minute and focused on the men running up behind them. A moment later one tripped and crashed into the other, knocking him on the head with his walkie-talkie in the process. Pursuit stopped as the men wrestled on the floor throwing punches. "It shouldn't be that easy," Colin said as he caught up to the others. "Let's get the hell out of here." ................................ Harold hadn't lied when he said the cure was the easy part. The freelancer at the portal had told him what he needed, and any disease caused by a horseman could be cured by a horseman. The right horseman, anyway. The victims slept immediately after they were cured. On the outside they had only been standing still, but fighting disease was exhausting. Especially when you were losing. Harold went outside the shed where they had brought the victims. ‘OK?’ he thought up to the sky, not really expecting a reply. ................................ "They're doing fine, you did good work," Rich said as he brought in Harold's mail and tossed it on the TV tray. Harold took another drag off his cigarette. "Good to hear. Don't imagine they're going to want to smile again for a while though." "Probably not," Rich laughed and sat down on the sofa. "How's the new kid working out?" "Steady, much better than Bruce. He was studying to be a doctor. Ironic, huh? Seems to work though. He looks at the whole Pestilence thing in a kind of clinical way." "You have to, otherwise you couldn't do it. When it starts to bother you it's time to retire." Rich looked around the plain, smoke-filled room. "Yeah. You really like this?" "It's starting to get a bit dull, but I do like it. I think I might go out and find something to do soon though. Volunteer stuff maybe." Rich nodded as Harold looked at the smoldering cigarette in his hand. "Those things'll kill you, you know." “Yeah, I know," he said and crushed the half smoked cigarette on the ashtray. [/QUOTE]

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