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"You could be drinking that beer at the beach Followed by a really swell dinner with your friends I’hed It was Me now for the Wardens We didn’t officially have cereht of Memorial Day as the day we honored our fallen friends and coether and justbe glad ere still alive

Over the past eight years, a lot had changed The destruction wrought during Mother Earth’s brief, angry wakening had changed the face of a lot of communities around the worldand utterly obliterated a few From the ashes, people rebuilt, and they rebuilt well The reht years out, the trau to lessen, but it would never really fade Not for any of us

I made a decision, and popped my head in the kitchen As usual, Lewis had persuaded Tommy that they didn’t really need to wait for permission to start on the pizza I shook my head and said, "Go ahead, boys Eat up It justfor thirty minutes"

"Mom!" Lewis promptly said, and looked very disappointed "That’s not even true It doesn’t matter if you eat"

"It’s true today, buster, because you’ve had half the pizza in about five et your beach stuff"

He and To their last pieces of pizza I sighed and closed up the box and put it away in the fridge, retrieved a six-pack of bottled beer, and added it to

Then I went into the office, unentlemen, can I have your attention?"

The voices fell silent Twenty Wardens, all waiting forprofound

"Go enjoy your holiday," I said "We’ll pick this back up toued There was noticeably ned off

Cherise had brought her car--a sedan, not a Mommy-van; even if she eventually had a dozen kids, I didn’t think she’d ever go to that extreani, the sleek electric one, and she seeine, but I had to admit that hers was more planet-friendly

We spent a few blissful hours at the beach, sipping our beer and watching our kids play As the sun began to sink toward the western horizon, we packed up, whistled for Lewis and To with shells and sticks, and piled back into the car, tired and happy

Cherise drove us to the restaurant where ays seeo It was full to capacity in the dining roo the sunset and waiting for tables, but Cherise strolled right up to the desk and said, "Warden party"

"Right this way," said the flawlessly decked-out greeter, and led us past all thethe side of the building

It was already full, which confused -distance conference call with most of these people, and yet here they were, in Mia She was sitting near the end of the table in her glea wheelchair, resplendent in black leather and Navajo turquoise She inclined her silver and black head toward me--more silver than black, these days--and smiled a elcome at all of us

Other friends were at the table, too Peter, the new head of Weather operations; Anjali, as over Fire; Carl, fresh fro his hands dirty with Earth powers; a few others, too

"How?"

"We had help," Marion said, and nodded farther down the table, where a very s for her Venna inclined her head gravely On the other side of the table, so did Rahel, with an absolutely enig

And at the end of the table, standing, was David