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“What?” Mary’s voice, shaky

“You okay?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Did I wake you up?”

“Sounded like you were ralphing Are you sick?”

“No No, I’m fine”

He could have sworn he heard a sob in her voice, a catch “You sure?”

Her voice steadied “Yeah, I’m fine, Sam Go back to sleep Sorry I woke you”

Saestion He clied the pillows the way he liked theht He closed his eyes But he knew that sleep wasn’t coht train loaded orries and frager It was hard to fall asleep when your sto into knots

He heard the toilet flush and the bathrooht went off

What if Mary was sick? Who could he get to take over running the day care? Astrid had to deal with Little Pete, so it couldn’t be her He started running down the list of people he could trust to behave in a mature fashion and cope

The only kids he could think of to take over for Mary would probably just do the job so they could get into the day care’s oatmeal supplies

He’d been drea about…

…Junior Mints

That was it, the thing nagging at the edge of his consciousness Junior Mints

“I’er, that’s what it is, I’ nuts”