The Mansion – Week 1

The first thing Luann noticed when she woke up was that this was definitely not the same place she fell asleep in.  The décor in the bedroom was a lot nicer, for one thing.  The bed actually had posts.  Not all the way to the ceiling with curtains or anything, but little stubby guys extending about a foot above the mattress.  Still, the room had hardwood furniture and wainscoting, for God’s sake.  She doubted that whoever had built her apartment building had even heard of anything more exotic than crown molding.

As she cleared the schmutz from her eyes, she took in the rest of the room.  It was a single room that looked like a hotel room.  An incredibly lavish and luxurious hotel room, but a hotel room.  In addition to the bed, she could see a widescreen plasma TV and a sofa on the other end of the room.  Flanking the TV were shelves upon shelves of DVDs.  On the other side of the bed were two doors.  She opened one of them and found a really nice, fully stocked bathroom with a tile floor and whirlpool bath.  Behind the other one, she found a large walk-in closet with hangers full of formal dresses and gowns, as well as coats, sweaters, and other assorted clothing.  She walked over to the foot of the bed and opened the oak dresser to find that the drawers were full of t-shirts, pants, socks, underwear, and anything else she might have cared to wear.  On top of the dresser, she found a terrycloth bathrobe laid out waiting for her.  The only things in the room that she could call her own were the undershirt and pajama pants she had woken up in.

What the hell is going on here?

*          *          *

Katie opened her eyes and stretched.  She was startled to find herself in a different room, and she was doubly startled when her hand found someone next to her in the king-size bed.

“Stacy?  What are you doing here?”

“Hmm?  What?” said Stacy as she slowly came to.  “Oh, hey, babe.  Did we do something wild last night?  I don’t feel hung over.”

“I don’t think so, Stace.  I remember going straight home from the studio last night, and I’m pretty sure you went back to your place.  Besides, if we had gone home together, don’t you think the sheets would be a bit messier?”  Katie gave Stacy a good goosing under the sheets, and Stacy twitched and fell out of the bed.

“Ow!  You just wait until I get my coffee, I’ll kick your ass,” said Stacy with a grin as she straightened her cotton short shorts and tried in vain to tame her pink dyed hair.  “Come on, Kate, let’s go take a look around.”  She donned one of the red satin bathrobes on the dresser and tossed the other one to her lover on the bed.  “I’m gonna go see if I can hunt down some breakfast.”

*          *          *

Jake slowly awoke to find a familiar face lying next to him.  He smiled briefly, and then jumped out of the bed when he realized who it was.

“Whoa!  Oh, sorry, Mandi, I didn’t, um…”  His voice trailed away as he realized that Mandi hadn’t woken up yet, and he stood back and tried to figure out just what was going on.  After a while, though, logic completely failed him, and he sat down on the sofa looking at Mandi until she woke up.

After a while, she yawned and sat up.  She noticed the room around her, and rubbed her eyes.  “Mike, what’s going on here?”

“Mike?  I’m Jake.”

She looked over at him and squinted.  As soon as she identified him, she quickly grabbed a handful of bed covers to cover her brassiere.  Jake quickly turned around and tried not to blush too hard.  “Jake?  What the hell are you doing here?  Where’s Mike?”

“Assuming you were with him when you went to bed, he’s probably still where he was last night.”  Jake took the larger of the two bathrobes from the dresser to cover his bare chest and boxers.  He was a little eager, since this was the first time Mandi had ever seen him like this, and he knew that his average, untoned physique didn’t match up against her usual type of boyfriend.  He tossed the other bathrobe towards Mandi.

“Oh, thanks, I guess,” said Mandi as she pulled the robe on.  “I’ve got to find a bathroom.  I bet I look like hell.”  She tried doors until she found the bathroom, then locked the door and turned on the shower.

Jake was about to say, Don’t worry, you look just fine to me, but Mandi had already gotten the water running.  Besides, she probably would have just brushed his compliment off, the way she always had since high school.  He sighed and headed out the door.

Outside the bedroom, he saw an absolutely gorgeous room.  The ceiling must have been at least 25 feet high, and there were chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and paintings on the walls.  A grand staircase led down to the first floor.  The most remarkable thing he saw, though, were the half dozen other people he saw wandering around bleary-eyed, and all wearing bathrobes similar to his own.  Across the great hall from his and Mandi’s room, two young ladies were heading out of their room and past the stairs.  Their bathrobes were satin, as opposed to his soft cotton one, and their hair was dyed neon pink and green.  They seemed to know where they were going, so Jake followed them down the stairs.

After a few steps, it was clear that the two brightly colored girls were just following their noses, because Jake was soon greeted by the aroma of coffee, bacon, eggs, syrup, and any number of other breakfast dishes.  He soon found himself in a sumptuous banquet room, where a long table was laid out with nine place settings.  Each plate was laid with a different breakfast dish.  He saw name cards at each place setting, so he sat down at the place with his own name.  He was surprised to find that the plate contained his favorite breakfast dish, right down to his favorite brand of tea.  He helped himself as he surveyed the other people in the room.  Besides himself and the two ladies he’d already seen, who were seated at the places marked Stacy and Katherine, he also saw a thirty-something couple named Robert, a slender platinum blond man, and Elizabeth, and a petite redhead, a really big redheaded guy named Bradley, a skinny guy with black hair and glasses named Wesley who looked for all the world like Harry Potter without the wand, and a rather shy-looking woman with long black hair named Luann.  Only Bradley and Wesley were dressed; the others were all wearing bathrobes.

As he finished, Mandi finally entered the room with damp hair and wearing what was probably the most fashionable outfit in the dresser.  He left his dishes on the table and got up from his seat as Mandi examined the room, and he gallantly pulled out the chair next to his, the one marked “Amanda,” as he went back to the room to shower.

Across the table, Wesley could barely eat any breakfast at all, he was so nervous.  He has woken up in a strange room, in no way resembling his own bedroom, and the bathroom had even had his prescription dandruff shampoo and acne medication waiting for him.  And since his new bedroom was missing an alarm clock, he had slept way too long, and his boss was probably fuming by now.  As soon as he decided that he wasn’t going to be eating any more, he got up from the table and started searching the house for a way out.

After fifteen minutes, he slumped down on an easy chair, dejected and confused.  Not only did he not find any exterior doors in the entire mansion, but he didn’t even find any windows.  They might all be hundreds of feet underground, for all he knew.  The only thing that even came close to a window was on the top floor of the mansion, which was occupied only by a massive enclosed park with gardens and wide expanses of grass.  The whole thing was covered by what appeared to be a huge glass dome showing the sky beyond, but Wesley could tell that something wasn’t quite right.  For one thing, his watch read about nine in the morning, but the sun was already high in the sky.  Furthermore, as he moved from side to side in the massive park, the sun didn’t move as much as it should have.  It looked like the sky was being projected onto the ceiling somehow, but it still felt like real sun.  There was even wind.

Eventually, his head started to ache with all of the weird things around, so he went back down to the second floor and went into the game room.  He had remembered seeing a lot of computers in there, and he lit one up to see what kind of games he could find.

Brad wasn’t nearly so worried.  He wasn’t due at the club until that evening, and he knew that they’d find someone to stand by the door until he got out of here.  The only thing on his mind was why the air out in the hall smelled a little bit like chlorine.  He walked out past the dining room and headed towards the only other door on the first floor that wasn’t a bedroom.  On the other side of the door, he saw the best equipped gym he’d ever seen.  There was every kind of machine a bodybuilder could ask for, and beyond the machines was an Olympic-sized lap pool and hot tub.  A couple of the bikes and treadmills had an extra control panel at about shin height for some reason, but everything was otherwise normal.  The one thing he didn’t recognize was a small room at one side of the gym.  There were large windows in the door and on either side of it, and there was a small control panel on a pedestal inside the room.  The walls in front and back of the pedestal were large gratings, and the one in front had little streamers on it.

Huh.  Oh, well, whatever.  Brad set up the bench press and started his daily workout.

The rest of the day passed with the inhabitants of the mansion exploring the house and seeing what sorts of assets it had to offer.  Luann spent most of the day in the library on the second floor perusing the titles.  Stacy and Katie were in the music room, playing around on some of the instruments.  The music room even had a dance floor, colored light packages, and a DJ booth, and they experimented a bit with the equipment.  Rob and Beth relaxed in the park on the top floor, where the weather was like a clear summer day, and then went down to the hot tub in the gym to marinate for a while.  Mandi swam laps in the pool and worked out in the gym with Brad, while at the same time she subtly tried to avoid Jake’s attentions.  Wesley barely moved from the computer all day.

At lunchtime, more plates were laid out, and people came and went at their leisure.  They hardly saw each other until dinner, when the table was set with candles and centerpieces.  Everyone showed up at the same time for dinner, and they all sat eating for several minutes.  Finally, Mandi could stand the silence no longer.

“Okay, we’ve been in this house for at least eleven hours now, and it doesn’t look like there’s any way to get out of here.  We’ll probably be stuck here for quite a while, so we might as well get to know each other.”  Everyone looked up from their meals, which were again all different, and looked at Mandi, then around the table at everyone else’s faces.  “I’ll start.  I’m Mandi, and I’m 23 years old.  I’m from San Francisco, and I’m a lifeguard at the health club.”  Brad wasn’t surprised.  He had seen her swimming laps, and he had admired the way she filled out her swimsuit.  “Okay, Bradley,” she read from Brad’s place tag, “you go next.”

“Okay, um, I’m Brad, and I’m 26.  I live in New York, and I’m a club bouncer.”  The introductions moved around the table.

“My name is Wesley, and I’m 23.  I’m from Reston, Virginia, and I’m a design engineer for Northrop Grumman.”

“Who’s that?” asked Brad.

“It’s an aerospace company.”

“Cool.”

Everyone looked at Luann.

“O-okay, um, I’m Luann,” she said quietly.  “I’m 28 years old, and I live in New York.  I’m working as a legal secretary, but I’m also studying for the bar in a few months.”  Wesley looked at her with new interest.

The introductions crossed to the other side of the table to Robert’s seat.  “Okay, I’m Rob, and I’m 36 years old, so I’ll need someone to change my Depends after dinner.”  The others chuckled.  “I live in Los Angeles, and I’m the head chef and co-owner of a small restaurant downtown, along with my wife.”

“And I’m Beth, the other half of the restaurant,” the redheaded woman said.  “I’m 34 years old, and I’m the other co-owner, as well as the headwaitress and maitre d’.  And of course I live in L.A. with Rob.”

“Wow,” said Wesley.  “You’re the maitre d’ and the headwaitress?  Isn’t that a lot of work for one person?”

“Not really.  We only have seven tables.”

“I said it was a small restaurant,” said Rob.

“Ah, yes, that you did.”

“Okay, well, I guess it’s my turn,” said the girl with the pink hair.  “I’m Stacy.”

“And I’m Katie,” said the one with the green hair.

“We’re both 26, and we have a recording studio together, also in downtown L.A.  We mostly sell our stuff at those awesome little old record shops.”

“So are you guys sisters?” said Mandi.

“Not exactly,” said Katie as she held took Stacy’s hand and lightly stroked it with her thumb.

Wesley noticed the move.  “Ah.  You mean, you’re…like…”

“I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘gay,’ Wesley,” said Stacy.

“‘Girlfriends,’ actually.  I didn’t want to offend anybody and make a bad first impression.”

“Oh, please.  We’re surrounded by political correctness in L.A., and we’re both sick of it.  We won’t be offended if people actually say what they’re thinking.  And we’re not actually gay, we’re bi.”

“You sure you won’t be offended?” said Brad, with a look at Stacy and Katie that left no doubt as to what he was thinking at that moment.  It involved the number three.

“Save it, hotshot,” said Katie.  “You’d have better luck if you stuck with your weight machines.”  She gave him a look back that, while it was friendly enough, conveyed the approximate number of times she had dealt with that sort of thing from guys.

“Okay,” said Mandi, “now that we’re all introduced…”

“Excuse me?” said Jake.

“Oh, right.  Go ahead, Jake.”

“Okay.  I’m Jake, I’m 24 years old, I’m also from San Francisco, and I teach eighth grade English.”

Mandi looked at him.  She hadn’t known that he’d gone into teaching after college.  Well, he was that kind of person.

“Now that we’re all introduced,” said Wesley, “we should start dealing with what to do now that we’re stuck in here, not to mention what’s happened to us all.”

“What do you mean?” said Katie.

“Well, as Mandi said earlier, there doesn’t appear to be any way out of here.  Speaking for myself, I fell asleep in my own room last night, and I woke up here without knowing why or how.  Did the same thing happen to the rest of you?”

The others voiced or nodded their assent.

“Well then, since there’s no way for any of us to get out of here, how the hell did we get in here?”

“And there’s the question of the food, too,” said Beth.  “I mean, I haven’t seen a kitchen anywhere, and I haven’t seen any other people then ourselves.  And I don’t know about the rest of you, but every time I’ve come in here, the food at my place was always one of my favorites.  What about you guys?”

“Yep, same here.”

“Me too.”

“And me.”

“So where’s the food coming from?  And how does whoever it is know what we like to eat?”

“Okay,” said Jake.  “Does anyone here know anything about architecture or carpentry or anything like that?”

“I know a little,” said Wesley.

“Yeah, I thought you might,” said Jake.

“I do,” said Luann.

“So do I,” said Rob.  “Why do you ask?”

“Because there might be a secret passage or something in this place.  Tomorrow morning, I’d like us to all start searching the house for anything that might be hiding an entrance or exit of any kind.”

“Good idea,” said Wesley.  “I’ll also start pacing out the rooms and see if I can draw up a rough floor plan of the house.  That might show us where any hidden rooms or passageways are.”

“Well,” said Brad, “it sounds like you geniuses have got this all figured out.  Me, I’m gonna go crash in front of my sweet-ass big screen TV and watch a movie.  Anyone care to join me?”

“Not me,” said Rob.  “I’m too stuffed.  I think I’ll turn in early tonight.  How about you, Beth?”

“Yeah, I’m with you, hon.”

“I wouldn’t mind watching something with you,” said Mandi, laying a hand on his massive arm.

One by one, the others filtered back to their rooms, either to sleep, watch movies, or plan for the days ahead.

*          *          *

The next morning, everyone came to breakfast, prepared to begin their investigation, except for one.  When Wesley showed up to the table, he was shaken.

“You okay, Wesley?” asked Jake.

“You remember how I said I wanted to try and draw up a plan of the house, you know, see if I could find room for a secret passage somewhere?”

“Yeah, I remember,” said Luann.

“When I woke up this morning, I found a set of blueprints on the dresser waiting for me, along with a scale ruler and a tape measure.”

The others put down their silverware and looked at Wesley.

“And you’re sure they weren’t there the night before?” asked Jake.

“I’m sure.”

“Was your bedroom door locked or anything?” asked Rob.

“I don’t know.  Do the doors even have locks?”

“Nope,” said Stacy.

“Then no.  In any case, even if someone did sneak into my room in the middle of the night while I was sleeping, where did they come from?”

“Well, you’ve got the plans of the house, right?” said Brad.  “Shouldn’t you be able to find out if there are any trapdoors or anything?”

“Assuming the plans are accurate, yeah.”

“Well, let’s finish eating,” said Luann, “and then after breakfast we’ll spread out the plans in the library and see if we can find anything, okay?”

“Yeah, all right.”

They finished eating, and then Luann, Jake, Rob, Beth, Stacy, and Katie headed for the library.  Wesley headed for his room to fetch the blueprints, while Mandi and Brad went back to their rooms to change into workout gear and then headed for the gym.  Brad was wearing a t-shirt, gym shorts, and sneakers, and Mandi was wearing a halter top, tight shorts, and sneakers.  Both brought swim suits and towels with them.  When they reached the gym, Mandi claimed one of the treadmills and Brad headed for the weight machine.

“So,” said Mandi, “sounds like you’re as bored with all that blueprint stuff as I am.”

“Oh, God, yes,” said Brad.  “If I’d wanted to have to deal with brainy crap like that, I’da gone to college.”

“Oh, you didn’t go to college?”

“Nah.  I started working in a warehouse the summer of my junior year in high school, and when I graduated, I started working nights at a club.  I was only 18, but the club owner only cared about size, and I was as big then as I am now.  I was able to make good enough money that I didn’t really see the need for more school, and now I live pretty well.”

“You said you’re from New York, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Dang.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because otherwise I might try to drop by sometime.”

“Well, you know, we might be stuck here a while.  Why don’t you just…drop by right now?”  He stopped working the weight machine and looked over at her.

“Oh, come on, Brad,” she said.  “Are you seriously trying to come on to me right here in the gym?”

He looked a little embarrassed.

“Let’s go to the hot tub, and you can try again there.”  She grabbed their swimsuits and tossed him his.  “Get changed.”  She headed for the ladies’ changing room.  Brad sat still for a moment, and then he jumped up and headed for the men’s.

In the library, the blueprints Wesley had found in his room were spread over a table.  Wesley and Luann were poring over the second-floor plans, which contained the music room, the library, the game room, and the three double bedrooms.  Rob and Beth were looking at the first floor, which had the three single rooms, the dining room, and the gym and pool.  Jake had the third floor, which only had a small storage room and the large park-like space with the dome over it.  Stacy and Katie were basically hovering, looking over people’s shoulders with the attitude of people who don’t know what’s going on but want to appear interested anyway.  From time to time, one of them would take the tape measure to go measure a room and then come back to compare their measurement with the plans.  After about an hour, Wesley finally got up from the table and started pacing around the room.

“Okay, I give up.  The plans look accurate, and I can’t find any room for anything secret in any of the walls.  “Rob?  Beth?  Any sign of a kitchen?”

“Nope,” said Beth.

“I found something weird,” said Jake.

“What?  What’d you find?” said Wesley.

“Actually, it’s more like something I didn’t find, and that’s electricity.  Don’t plans like this usually include an electrical schematic?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Well, then, that’s funny, because the outlets are marked on here, but there’s no breaker box, and there’s no power entry point.  So we’ve got a house full of electronics and nothing providing power for them.”

“You know, guys,” said Katie, “there’s a pretty simple explanation for all of this.”

“What’s that?” asked Wesley.

“We’re in the Twilight Zone or something.”

“Thank you, very helpful,” said Wesley.

“Well, wait a minute,” said Stacy.  “You got a better explanation?”

“She’s kind of got a point, actually,” said Luann.  “Remember Occam’s Razor?”

Wesley thought for a moment.  “You know, that’s starting to make more and more sense.”

“Can any of you people remind us peons what a razor has to do with this?” said Stacy.

“Occam’s Razor is kind of a scientific rule of thumb,” said Wesley.  It says that for any unexplained phenomenon with multiple possible explanations, the correct explanation is usually the one that requires the fewest assumptions.”

Stacy and Katie looked at each other, then back.  “Rob, Beth, did either of you get a word of that?”

Jake handled the reply.  His education degree was kicking in.  “What it basically means is that the simplest explanation is probably the right one.”

“And the way that Occam’s Razor applies to this situation,” said Wesley, “is this.  Either there are secret doors in the walls, and people come in when we’re not looking and set food out for us…”

“People who know exactly what we like to eat, let’s not forget that,” said Rob.

“Right,” said Wesley.  “And these same people managed to get us in here while we slept, which, considering we’re from both coasts, would be no small feat.  Anyway, it’s either that, or, in layman’s terms, there’s Something Weird Going On Around Here.”

“My vote’s for Weird,” said Stacy.

“Me, too,” said Katie.  “I’d rather believe in magic or whatever than in a nationwide, seemingly random conspiracy with no obvious point.”

“I’m leaning that way myself,” said Jake, “but we can’t rule out either of them at this point, especially since neither one makes very much sense.  I suggest we each spend some time looking around for secret panels in the exterior walls.  You know, tap on the walls, that sort of thing.  Even a gap in the woodwork that’s a little wide might mean something.”

“Do you think the in-house movie collection includes The Great Escape?”

Everyone got a good chuckle out of that.

“Well, you guys can start looking for secret panels right away if you like,” said Wesley, “but I believe the game room computers are on a LAN, so I’m going to set up a game of Half-Life if anyone’s interested.”

“I’m with you,” said Jake.

“Count us in,” said Stacy.

“Yeah, I’ll give it a shot,” said Beth.

“And I’ll watch her,” said Rob.

“No, thanks,” said Luann.  “I saw a book in here I’d like to read.  Maybe later.”  She went to get the book and settled into an easy chair.

Wesley gave her a brief look, and then he headed into the game room to set up the LAN.

For the next few several days, the not-Mandi-or-Brad group wandered around the house like Scooby’s gang hunting for clues, and Mandi and Brad worked out, either in the gym, the pool, or Brad’s room.  At least once a day, someone would organize some kind of group activity to pass the time, like a pool tournament in the game room or a dance party in the music room.  One day, Beth discovered the weird dial in the third floor storage, and the fact that it controlled the weather in the rest of the third floor.  After that, the activities branched out into Frisbee playing and snowman building.

Throughout the week, Wesley couldn’t help but notice that Luann almost never took part in any of the activities.  She just spent most of her time reading or playing solitaire.  One evening, he found her studying a chessboard and came up beside her.  “Hey, do you mind if I join you?”

She seemed a little hesitant.  “If you want, I suppose.”

“Thanks.”  He pulled up a chair and sat on the other side of the chess board.  He studied the board for a moment, and then he moved a pawn.  “So,” he said, “you spend a lot of time in here?”  Immediately after he said it, he realized that it was one step shy of “You come here often?” and he should just shut up and play chess, but he wanted to find out why Luann didn’t like to socialize.

Apparently, Luann didn’t have any more conversational experience than he had, because she didn’t seem to react to the cheesy line.  “Yeah, here and the library.  I love the woodwork in here; it’s like I’m in some turn-of-the-century parlor room.  I feel like I should have a brandy snifter, only I don’t drink.”  She moved a piece.

“Yeah, me neither.  Otherwise I’d get something from the music room.”  He moved.

“Oh, is there a bar in there?”

“Apparently.  Rob told me he was tending when everyone else was up there dancing one night.  Did you go to that?”  He moved his bishop.  “Check.”

She blocked with a knight.  “No, I don’t dance.”

“No, me neither.”  He looked at the board, and then moved another pawn.  “Say, come to think of it, I haven’t seen you outside of here or the library, except at mealtime.”

“Yeah, I like to keep to myself mostly.”  She moved her queen.

“Well, so do I, but you have to socialize a little, don’t you?  I mean, who knows how long it’ll be until we find a way out of here?  You mean to stay sequestered the whole time?”  He moved his remaining knight to threaten her queen.

“It’s nothing against the rest of you, it’s just that I’m used to being by myself.  I’ve had enough practice, God knows.”  She developed her rook.

“Sounds like there’s a story behind that.”  He castled.

“Yeah, a long one.”  She moved her pawn up.

“I’ve got nowhere to be at the moment.”  He moved his rook.

She stared at the board for the longest time.  Finally, she closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of resignation.  “Okay.  My parents both died when I was very little.  I grew up in a foster home, I was an only child, and so were Mom and Dad, so I never had any real family growing up.  I went to law school on a scholarship, and I pretty much kept to myself there too.”

“So, what you’re saying is, you’ve been alone your whole life?”

“Pretty much.”  She nudged her pawn up.

“Well, the way I see it, here’s a chance for you to change that.  There are nine people in this house who couldn’t be more different for the most part, and we’ve managed to mix together okay.  I can’t imagine anyone would mind if you decided to take part in, for instance, the poker tournament we got set up for tomorrow.”

“I’ve never played poker in my life.”

“Doesn’t matter.  The important thing is to just play and enjoy yourself.  Oh, it’s your move.”

She took one of the pawns guarding his king.  “I’ll tell you what, Wes.  I’ll sleep on it, and I’ll let you know at breakfast, okay?”

“Okay.  That’s enough for me.”  He made a capture with his rook.  “Check.”

She looked at the board for a second, and then took his rook with her queen.  “Checkmate.”  She got up from the table and paused at his side, while he stared at the board trying to figure out just how she beat him so quickly.  As he sat there, she bent down and kissed him on the check.  “I’ll see you in the morning, Wesley.”  He turned with a start to watch her walking out of the room and back to her own room for the night.

*          *          *

“Well, it’s nice to see them getting along.”

“Yes, indeed it is.  That was really my biggest worry about the whole thing.”

“That was your biggest worry?  I was rather more worried about the other little surprises you had planned.”

“Now, my dear, we’ve spoken about this.  What we’re doing is necessary.  We’ve waited for the right moment for far too long.  It’s high time we tried creating the moment ourselves.”

“I don’t know.  You’re taking an awful risk, you know.”

“I know.  Anything like this is bound to have risks, but you must agree that the potential rewards are well worth it.”

“Yes, you know I do, otherwise I would never have helped you do this.  It’s just…”

“I understand.  This is a giant step for us, and it’s only natural to be nervous.  And really, we haven’t truly set forth on the journey yet.  It’s not too late to turn back.”

“Really?  You’d do that?”

“If you truly think we should wait, I am more than willing.  You know I never like to see you upset.”

“…No, no, you’re right.  If we don’t take our opportunity now, it may never happen.  Go on, love.  Let’s begin.”

“Very well, on we go.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.  I must say, I’m quite excited to see how they react.”

“As am I, darling, as am I.”