You Can't Go Home Again

It took less than twenty minutes for the Yeoman on duty to assign Commander Smith a billet. As a Commander, he was given a private room rather than one he would have to share with another Officer.

Back in the passenger seat of Connie's hover-craft, he asked, "So what's your husband's name?"

"Daniel," she answered, starting the engine and heading for the main gate. "Daniel Nathan Hamilton the third. Although everyone calls him 'Tiger'. I am now Constance Thorndike Hamilton, devoted wife to the Managing Director of Acquisitions at Nebula Investments, Incorporated."

"How old is he?" Smith asked as he watched the scenery whizzing by. He was more than ten years older than Connie so he figured maybe she had a 'thing' for older men.

"Same as me," she answered. When she took the right fork in the road up ahead, Smith figured they must be headed to their old hangout - Scooters. He had fond memories of the summer he and she had shared after her Freshman year at college. "Twenty-three."

"Twenty-three?" Smith repeated the number. Off in the distance he could see the ocean. "He must be very smart to have a job with such an impressive title at such a young age."

"He is," she replied. "He was smart enough to be born to the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Nebula Investments . . . Incorporated . . . Damn," she said as she slowed the craft and then stopped the vehicle completely. Scooters had been converted into a dry-cleaning store.

"Well," Smith said with a shrug, "They say you can't go home again."

"Oh, no?" the pregnant Connie asked defiantly. She floored the accelerator and made a U-turn, heading towards a road that ran parallel to the beach.