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   Conrad and Pat and Nanette were climbing aboard. I rushed over to Conrad as the dogs leaped around Claudia with joy. I opened my mouth to introduce Conrad. He stepped past me.
   She stepped toward him. “You have kept him safe. I knew you would.”
   He took her arm. “And you have returned from the dead as I knew you would.” They embraced.
   “I see introductions are not necessary, as usual.”, I said excitedly. “Conrad and the dogs and I have had unbelievable adventures! We sailed across the Pacific on a tramp steamer! We were taken to the Philippines by Catamites and Conrad and I got extraordinarily renditioned to Vietnam where a giant bug tried to kill us. We rowed through a pod of assholes! We had tea with Komodo Dragons!”

   “Calm down.”, smiled Pat. “You’re starting to hyperventilate.”
   “And we learned about Jumbo’s Genocide.”, I continued quietly. I looked at Conrad and sighed. “And about Conrad’s childhood.”
   “I got shot in Tehran.”, Nanette announced flatly.
   I put my hand on Conrad’s arm. He winced. “Conrad got shot. We were almost all killed but we were saved by an old girlfriend of Conrad’s. We don’t know what happened to her.”