We picked up a half-dozen lobsters, and filled all the coolers with an assortment of fish. This, along with everything everyone else brought would be plenty for everyone to eat for at least two days. The caravan of vehicles snaked its way to Malibu, dried mud coated much of the roads so we reduced our speed to try to reduce the amount of dust for the vehicles in the rear.

  The wolf pack vanished in different directions as Ginger, Pete and Sampson relieved themselves and ran around the house.

  “Oh my! This is much nicer!” Helen said looking at the planter with a string of lights near the wall of pictures.

  “This is absolutely beautiful!” Joan and George said looking around the inside of our home and taking interest in the pictures.

  “Mister Greg? Can we go swimming?” Blake asked politely as soon as he saw the pool.

  “Blake, please help us unpack first.” Joan said.

  “How many solar panels do you have!?” George asked looking around, marveling at all the electricity.

  Scotty and I outlined the systems we all had in place and the continual improvements we were making. George was an Information Technology specialist and took great interest in all the information.

  “Catalina will be here in about two hours.” Scotty said after talking with Susan. Jillian and I gave Joan, George and Blake a tour of our gardens and the house that was more like a bed and breakfast now. Jillian and Helen made each room special with pictures and unique furnishings. Everyone enjoyed the pool for about an hour when we received a call that Catalina just arrived at the marina and Trevor was on his way. They said they needed to make one stop and would arrive shortly.

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  The number of gifts around the planter was staggering. Some of the larger gifts were outside and hidden from view. Helen insisted that all the gifts needed to be wrapped and that the surprise was half the fun. The small mountain named “Jillian and Greg” fell over twice as Blake and Sammy were in charge of organizing the names and the packages. Jillian and I were actually embarrassed by all the attention and affection everyone showed toward us and our unborn child.

  “We need to take a break and go outside, we have Trevor’s’ gift at the blue house before it gets dark.” Helen said. We all walked down the street to the blue house and Helen insisted that Trevor close his eyes. Scotty opened the garage door as everyone gasped.

  “Okay.” Helen said as Trevor opened his eyes.

  “Some birds are just meant to fly.” Scotty said as Trevor was speechless looking at the two Ultra-Lights with a big red bow on each. Trevor walked over and sat in one of the ultra-lights as a big smile appeared. Rebecca sat in the other one. “This doesn’t look too complicated.” She said looking at the controls.

  “These look like the ones from Oklahoma. Where did you get these?” Trevor asked.

  “They were flown by the two assholes that ambushed us at the outpost.” Reese said to Trevor.

  It was late and everyone was making ready for bed as I smoked a cigar outside with all the dogs near me. A strange feeling surged through me, similar, but different from when I first encountered Jen.

  “Wow. That was weird.” Helen thought standing in the kitchen by the sink as we exchanged looks.

  Apprehension filled me once again. Maybe I am just more sensitive because my responsibilities seem to be increasing, I thought. Then I thought about how lucky and, well, blessed that we all have each other. Then my thought turned to what William said as I looked west across the black Pacific; “as with ALL things, there is the ‘balance.’