It had been an eventless weekend, and a lonely one, and it had been marred by the unpleasantness of its beginning. As Madeline got into her own car to start out to work, she mentally cursed a fate that had made her only close neighbor such a barracuda. Why couldn't he have been some nice old retired man with a.... She was backing out of the driveway as she was thinking, and the sudden metallic thud that brought her small car to a screaming halt shook her. Trembling, she glanced in the rear-view mirror to see the black Mercedes stopping and its door opening. Her eyes closed momentarily as she opened her on door. Why me, Lord? she wondered silently as the stormy, taciturn giant came toward her with narrowed, glittering eyes. "How many driver's license inspectors did you have to get drunk before you talked them into giving you a license?" he asked shortly. "My God, do you drive with your eyes closed?" Her lips made a thin line.
