Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Lo & Behold by Diola Dragontail

   Chapter 10: Interlude, Sara's Story (Part 1)

   Summer, 1986 - Disney World

   None of this was her damn fault.  She didn't even want to come on this
fucking vacation anyway.  She would have been perfectly fine staying home.

   Sara stalked down the plastic street, the tinny cheerful music haunting
her every step and grating on her nerves.  The environment was like
something out of a cartoon and it only made her picture herself in a comic
strip, with a dark cloud hovering over her head.  Following her every step.

   From all outward experiences she'd appear to be just another angst
ridden fifteen year old.  Dragged to a place she didn't want to go and now
having a fit.  That wasn't even close to the truth.

   She wanted to come here.  It had been a dream of hers for years now. 
But she never thought it would actually happen.  So she never bothered to
ask.  When her mother told her they where they were planning to vacation,
she was filled with dread, not joy.

   It was the same thing, every damn time.  They bicker and they argue,
they scream and yell at each other, they treat each other like assholes all
the time.  Then we go on vacation and suddenly, bam, they think everything
is going to be great.

   She spotted a crumpled up piece of paper on the ground in front of her
and gave it a kick as she walked.  It tumbled to the side and rolled to a
stop less than two feet away, which was less than satisfying.

   It starts before they even leave the house.  Arguing about when they
need to leave.  What they need to take with them.  How they should get
there.  If there was anything that could involve the slightest bit of
discussion, you can bet it would end up turning into an argument.

   "Fuck!" She spat out of her mouth in frustration.  She paused in
mid-step around her, eyes glancing around slowly.  She suddenly felt like
everyone was looking at her.

   This time it wasn't her paranoia though.  Glancing around, she could see
more than a few people were staring.  She frowned, feeling more than a
little bit sheepishly embarrassed.

   "...sorry..." She whispered, barely audible.  She wanted to scream out
instead.  Tell them all to go fuck themselves.  She was having a bad day;
it wasn't her god damn fault.

   Instead, she just felt her insides shrivel up a bit in embarrassment.

   "Hrumph!" Grunted a middle aged woman nearby, starting to usher her two
kids away from the obviously negative influence that Sara probably was.

   Sara just stared and frowned more.  She felt bad for the woman, she felt
worse for the kids.  She could feel herself changing into just what her
parents were.  Bitter, abusive, uncaring, and that was the last thing she
wanted to be like.

   On the other hand, she just wanted to scream at the retreating form of
the overweight woman in her too tight pink shorts and her mismatching
yellow top.  Tell her to shove her `hrumph' up her big fat ass.  Yell that
her kids probably hear worse on television while she's too busy eating Ding
Dongs to get up out of bed.

   Sara just slumped her shoulders.  Feeling even worse than she did
before.

   "You know," She heard a masculine voice say from behind her.  "Whatever
it is, worrying about it isn't going to do any good, young lady."

   Sara pushed her eyes up into her forehead, almost painfully, her brow
knitting crossly.  Just what she needed, an armchair weekend psychologist
to tell her what she needed and didn't need to do.

   She spun around in place, planning to give this pain in an ass a piece
of her mind.  How the fuck would he know what was good for her?  He didn't
know a damn thing about her.

   She had the words boiling in her mouth, laced with bile.  He didn't have
any idea what he just bit off, whoever this nosey bastard was.

   Then she saw him and the words just seemed to melt out of her mind.  He
wasn't attractive, well, he was, just not in the model sort of way that
teenage girls are supposed to `swoon' over.  He was just... well, normal
looking.  Not muscular, but not fat either.  Not tall, but not short.

   In fact, there wasn't a single remarkable thing about the way he looked.
She couldn't really figure out why she suddenly felt nervous and smitten
about him.  He was standing about a foot behind her, a respectable distance
for perfect strangers, but she could swear she could smell him in the air.

   He just looked at her; his concerned smile seemed to slip into a
pleasant well meaning one.  Which just made her heart feel gooey and
drippy.

   "You know what I mean?" He asked, to which she only nodded slowly.  "You
could forget your problems and have fun today.  Or you could just be grumpy
and when you're home, you'll feel worse for not enjoying yourself while you
had the chance."

   Sara nodded slowly, half her mind agreed with him.  The other half was
just cursing his simplistic advice on her situation.

   "I guess you're right." She managed to squeak out in an embarrassed
voice.

   "My parents..." She started to stumble out of her mouth, stunned she was
telling these things to a stranger.  "...They're always fighting.  And, I
guess..  I don't know."

   She felt like an idiot.  Blurting out stupidity at him like that.

   He just nodded slowly, as if he understood.  "You're in the Happiest
Place on Earth, they say.  So you should just try and enjoy it while it
lasts."

   Sara wanted to roll her eyes.  The sickly sweet theme park motto made
her skin crawl.  She wanted to just kick this pain in the ass in the balls,
just for being an idiot.

   Instead she just nodded her agreement.

   "Good." He beamed a smile at her and she felt her knees weaken.  She
managed to hide it though, shifting her weight from her right leg to her
left.

   His good deed done, he took a step back from her, gave her a little
wave, then turned and started walk away.

   Sara watched his back for a moment, and then let her eyes drift down to
his rear.  Watching the way it shifted up and down as he walked.  It was
hidden by his blue jeans, but there was still plenty enough movement to let
her imagination run wild.

   She felt her cheeks blushed as she stared, averting her eyes to keep
from being discovered.  She watched back of his blonde haired head, as it
bobbed as he walked.  She took in every little detail she could, the small
camera bag hanging under his arm.  The plain white shirt.  The tennis shoes
with no socks.

   He didn't look like he was more than twenty, maybe twenty-five.  There
wasn't that big of an age difference she thought.  Just maybe...

   She took two steps to follow him, to catch up to him, but then came to a
sudden stop.  He had stopped as well and for a moment she thought he knew
she was coming, but then she spotted why.

   He had stopped in front of another woman, about the same age as him.  A
brunette, pushing a stroller, complete with a toddler occupant.  If that
wasn't bad enough, there was a slightly older kid holding onto the
stroller.

   All of a sudden she felt her heart sink into the depths of her stomach.
All the fantasies that had bloomed in her head about him, they all just
vanished.  Like the sunrise burns the morning fog in seconds.  Reality had
ripped through her mind, dashing all her thoughts.

   She couldn't see his face anymore, but she just knew he was talking to
the woman.  Probably talking about her.  She watched as the brunette leaned
over, looking at her.  A sympathetic look on her face.

   All Sara could do was offer a nervous smile back at the woman.  She
glanced around aimlessly now, her only intention to get away from the man,
his wife, and his family.  She felt out of place and uncomfortable, which,
all things considered, was better than being angry and upset.

   She walked away briskly, trying to put the encounter out of her mind. 
But she found him creeping back into her thoughts anyway.

   She found a bench to sit at and decided to relax and try to clear her
mind.  But she still felt the same thoughts seeping back into her mind. 
She glanced around her, and all she saw and heard were the signs of happy
families enjoying their day together.

   She glanced up and looked up at the fake fairy tale castle that loomed
in front of her.  This time it didn't seem to bother her as much.  She
found herself slipping into the details of it.  Noticing the intricate
molding around the windows.  The designs across the ramparts.  Things she
would never even have bothered to notice in her foul mood before.

   She opened her back pack and fished out her drawing pad, followed by a
couple of pencils.  She flipped past all of the used pages, to the first
clean one she could find and just started drawing.

   She drew the castle, in a vague sort of way.  Then started drawing one
of the towers, only this time with a lot more detail.  Filling in all the
little parts of it that she thought she'd forget about later.

   Then she flipped to a new page and started drawing again.  But this time
she gave in and started to sketch out the man from earlier.  She started
with his slightly disheveled blonde hair, but ended up concentrating on his
eyes.  Those were the details she was sure she'd forget if she didn't
record them.

   She moved on to draw his nose and then his mouth.  And wondered what it
would be like to kiss him.  If he was a good kisser or not.  This time she
didn't feel embarrassed by her thoughts, after all, she'd never see him
again.

   She smiled mischievously to herself as she started a new sketch on the
same page.  Drawing out what his butt looked like.  This was certainly a
detail she didn't want to forget later.

   "Feeling better?" A voice suddenly broke through her concentration,
making her gasp in surprise.  Her first instinct to hide her pad, closing
it quickly.

   She glanced up, and not really to her surprise, she saw the owner of the
voice was the man again.  This time he was the one pushing the stroller.

   "Uh, yes." Sara replied, embarrassed, but offering a thankful smile.

   He just smiled back, but his wife or girlfriend or whatever she was
talked first.  "Are you here alone?"

   Sara nodded slowly, shoving the pad back into her bag.  "Uh, yeah, sort
of.  I mean, my parents are here.  Somewhere.  They're probably back at the
hotel arguing over whether it's going to rain or why they didn't pack the
iron.  Or something else stupid like that."

   Sara could feel herself babbling.  She wanted to kick herself to get her
to shut up.  But the words just kept coming out.

   The couple just nodded, again as if they understood what she was trying
to say.  "We just finished having breakfast." The man started to say, but
was interrupted by the shouting of the older of the two children.

   "We saw MICKEY!" the boy shouted, he couldn't have been more than six
years old.  His eyes were wide with excitement, as if having a meal with an
adult in a giant mouse costume was the best part of his life so far.

   Sara couldn't help but laugh at that, her attention dropping to the
blonde haired ball of energy.  "Did you?"

   The boy nodding quickly, but lost interest in her.  Looking up at his
mother with the same eager expression, "Can we go now?  Can we?  Can we?"

   "Shhh." The brunette replied, trying to calm him down a bit.  "In a
minute."

   The boy and his mother started to negotiate just how long a minute was
going to take, where they were going next, and other little details that
seemed very important to the young mind.

   "We're going to walk around a bit.  Would you like to join us?" The man
asked now.

   Sara was stunned by this invitation.  It seemed sincere, not just a
polite offer.  But then, what business did she have wandering the park with
someone else's family.  She was sure she'd just feel like a third wheel. 
She made up her mind that she'd politely turn down the offer and just
explore on her own.

   "Okay." She opened her mouth to reply and words fell out that she hadn't
planned on using.

   He smiled in reply, "Great.  I'm Ben, by the way.  This is Stacey and
Hank."

   The woman talking to the boy glanced at Sara and smiled.

   "And this is April." Ben leaned forward, waving to the toddler in the
stroller.  April seemed barely awake though and was more content catching
up on her sleeping than meeting anyone new.

   Sara managed to say her name as she tucked the pencils into her
backpack. Standing up slowly, still wondering if maybe she should try to
find a polite way out of this.

   "Want to walk through the castle?" Stacey asked Hank, causing the boy's
eyes to shoot open even wider.

   "CAN WE?" He shouted in reply, stunned that it was even possible.

   ========================

   Walking with them wasn't as bad as Sara would have imagined it to be. 
If it was her own family doing this, they wouldn't have gone an hour before
her parents were arguing.  Within two and they would have been screaming
each other.  By three, they probably would have gone their separate ways.

   But there was no discord here.  No shouting or screaming.  No one
accusing anyone of being a bitch or a bastard.  Not even any cursing.

   Sara couldn't figure out what their motivation for asking her to join
them.  She figured that they must have an ulterior motive, but nothing
seemed to come up.  The only thing she could think of was that they weren't
really that far apart in age.  And maybe they just wanted to be able to
talk to someone adult.

   Okay, not quite adult.  Almost adult.

   In her imagination, this is what a trip to Disney World was supposed to
be like.  Everyone having fun.  The whole family enjoying their time
together.  To bad she was enjoying it with someone else's family.

   As they walked, they talked.  She told them about her home, choosing to
ignore the bad parts and just tell them about the good ones.  She told them
about her school, her friends, her boyfriend back home, how she liked to
sketch, how she wanted to go to art school.

   They told her about themselves.  That they were from California, though
she didn't recognize the name of the town.  That they'd come to Florida for
a week.  That Hank was so excited about the trip that he started packing
three months ago.  Mostly tiny little details of normal life that wouldn't
mean anything to a casual listener, but only served to make Sara feel more
like she had been there during those moments.

   They had sat down for a late lunch and managed to find a cafeteria that
was almost empty.  But called it a cafeteria would be a service to the food
and disservice to the décor.

   The food was the typical fare you'd expect in a theme park, hot dogs,
burgers, fries.  All of which shared the same bland, over cooked, and made
yesterday taste.  And none of which was what anyone would consider
reasonably priced.

   The décor made up for it though.  All dark, polished wood and waxed
floor boards.  Real wood tables and chairs, not plastic retro-60s school
lunch furniture.  All of it trying to evoke a sense of a revolutionary war
era house or old English pub or something.

   The first floor was teeming with people and there was barely room to
breathe, but when they ventured upstairs they found it virtually deserted.
Even the noises from below were almost entirely muffled away by the wood of
the floor.

   Managing the stroller up the stairs wasn't an easy task and probably
explained the lack of crowds.  It gave Sara the chance to carry the trays
and feel like she was actually contributing something to the day.  She even
found herself able to deftly maneuver Hank along despite the distractions
meant to grab hold of his six year old mind.

   Ben led the way to a couple of tables near windows overlooking the
walkway below.  The windows even had drapes, which was more than could be
said for the windows on the first floor.  It was just the sort of place
Sara would have chosen to sit.  A spot to watch down on the passerbys
without being noticed.

   Lunch passed without much major discussion.  Hank was intent on relating
all of his experiences of the morning, as if none of them were there for
any of it.  Sara just watched this, amused by it all.  She wondered if she
had ever been that excited about anything.

   The meal only seemed to recharge Hank's excitement, while once April was
fed; she was out like a light.

   "I'm going to take Hank to ride Space Mountain." Stacey announced as she
started to stand.

   Hanks eyes went wide again, as if he was surprised that there was more
to do.

   "Okay, hold on and I'll get April ready to go." Ben replied, starting to
stand.  o Stacey glanced at the stroller and shook her head, "No, I'll take
him.  No sense waking her up.  Then when I come back, you can take him
again."

   Sara could see that Hank's eyes were literally twitching in his skull at
these plans.  If they didn't start moving soon, his head was liable to
explode.

   Ben relaxed in his seat and shrugged, "Sounds like a plan."

   "You want to come along?" Stacey asked Sara.

   Sara shook her head quickly in reply, "No thank you.  I don't do roller
coasters."

   "Okay." Stacey replied with a shrug and a smile.  "Your loss.  Come on
kiddo."

   Stacey offered a hand to her son, which was eagerly grasped.  And off
they both started walking.

   Ben just watched his wife and son walk away, while whispering.  "Here's
a secret.  I don't do roller coasters either.  I like my feet firmly on the
ground."

   Sara just smirked at that, not wanting to give away the secret.  Waving
to Stacey as she headed down the stairs.

   "Do you mind keeping an eye on April for a few minutes?" Ben asked.

   Sara just stared at him for a moment and blinked.  "Um." Was all she
could manage as a reply.  For one thing she wasn't sure she was up to that
sort of responsibility.  For another, who was she to be entrusted with
someone's child?

   "I'll only be a minute." Ben added, seeming to read her apprehension. 
"I just need to use the restroom.  And she'll probably sleep the whole way
through anyway."

   Sara nodded slowly, "Okay."

   "Thanks." He replied with a smile.  "I'll just be a minute." He
repeated.

   In the back of her mind the fantasy grew again.  She knew it was crazy
thoughts, but it was still harmless.  April being their daughter, Ben being
her husband.  She was able to entirely write Stacey out of existence in her
fantasy world.

   She honestly didn't have anything against Stacey.  She didn't hate her
or think that Ben deserved better.  They seemed pretty suited to each other
actually.

   Sara exhaled heavily as she watched Ben walk away, disappearing down the
wooden stairs.  She reached for her backpack and pulled out her sketchpad.
She decided she wanted something to remember the day from.

   She sat back in the chair, putting her feet on the far chair, and laid
the pad down in her lap.  She just stared at the face of the sleeping
toddler for a few long moments, before opening the pad to a random page and
starting to sketch.

   "Wow." The voice startled her, almost making her drop her pencil.  She
had been so engrossed in her sketching that not only did she loose track of
time, she didn't even hear Ben's return.

   Now he was leaning over her shoulder, looking at her work.  She felt
embarrassed and exposed, most of the time she never even let her parents
see her work.  Not only that, she felt ashamed, like maybe sketching Ben's
daughter without permission might have been the wrong thing to do.

   "That really is incredible." Leaning even closer.  She could feel his
breath on her ear, which was probably just an innocent thing.  "You really
are very talented."

   Ben withdrew slightly, moving to retake his seat.  Sara pulled her feet
off the other chair, using the movement to try to hide her embarrassment as
well as put away her pad.

   "Uh." She commented as she tried to find words.  "She didn't wake up or
fuss at all."

   It was her best attempt to change the subject and direct the attention
somewhere else.

   "I told you." Ben smiled as he looked at April for a moment, and then
looked back at Sara.  He saw that she was putting the pad away and asked,
"May I see?"

   Sara froze in her motions.  She wanted to say no, but she really
couldn't think of a reason to give.  Then again, he seemed to honestly like
what she had down.  So she shrugged and passed the pad to him, inwardly
clenching her stomach in nervousness.

   "Thank you." He replied with a smile as he accepted the pad.

   Sara watched her nervousness growing as he opened the pad.  He looked at
the page slowly, carefully.  As if he was trying to take it all in.  She
didn't think the picture was anything special though, just a landscape
she'd drawn back at home.

   It was like that for the next few pages.  Ben would look and examine. 
Make little noises of approval.  Then move onto the next page.

   Sara didn't need to see what he was looking at; she knew her own pad by
heart.  When he got to the fifth page, that's when she remembered what was
only a couple of pages away.

   Her immediate reaction was to panic.  She wanted to get the pad back
before he saw, but wasn't sure how to.

   "Here." She announced.  "Let me finish the picture of April and you can
have it.  Sort of like a souvenir."

   She hoped a bit of bribery might get what she wanted.

   Ben glanced up at her and smiled.  "You're really talented.  You should
keep practicing.  You can only get better."

   His eyes dropped back down to the pad and he made no movements to return
it.  He turned the page and was now looking at the sketches she had done of
the castle.

   Sara's panic reached a fever pitch now.  He was only one page away and
she was at a loss for how to stop him from going any further.

   She started to reach across the table for the pad, trying to be casual
about it.  "I didn't really finish that one yet."

   "I still like it." He didn't even notice her hands, prompting her to
give up her effort.

   Sara just sat there watching him, the nervousness tying her stomach up
into a note.  Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he turned the page.

   "Whoah." Was Ben's wide eyed reaction as he stared at page with his face
and, more importantly, his butt sketched on it.

   Sara bit her lower lip, full expecting this to get even more
uncomfortable very quickly.

   Ben glanced at her now, "When did you draw this?"

   Sara wasn't sure what to make of his tone.  Anger?  Annoyance? 
Embarrassment?  Confusion?

   "This morning." She replied with a shrug.  "I guess while you guys were
having breakfast."

   "Oh." He said, looking back down at the pad.  "Does my butt really look
like that?  I mean, if that is my butt you were drawing?"

   Sara looked at him, not sure if he was serious.  But he looked up at her
and met her eyes and she could see that he was smiling.

   "I mean, I don't want to presume." He added, "I've never seen my own
butt.  Not from that angle anyway."

   Sara's face broke into a smile and then she laughed, not feeling half as
embarrassed as she was just a few minutes before.

   "Yes, it's your butt." She managed to reply.  "I haven't looked at any
other butts today."

   She watched as he looked back down at the drawing.

   "When you first came up to me, well, I didn't realize you were
married.." Sara started to say in a more hushed, serious tone.  "...And I
just kind of... Well, I thought you were... Well, hitting on me."

   Ben looked at her and laughed, but cut back his laughter quickly.  "I'm
sorry.  I didn't mean to laugh... Well, I did, but it's more laughing with
you than at you."

   Sara frowned and nodding slowly.  She thought she understood what he
meant, sort of.

   Ben closed the pad and shifted out of his seat and into the seat next to
her.  So that he wasn't sitting directly across from her anymore.

   "I mean, you're a very attractive..." She could see that he was about to
say girl, his lips had moved into the shape of the word, but instead,
"...woman.  And I'm honored.  And if I was ten years younger, I'd be all
over you."

   Sara just nodded slowly, her eyes down on the table.  She could feel her
fantasies getting trampled down inside her mind.  She knew they were just
parts of her imagination, but up until right now they still had a hint of
possibility to them.

   Ben exhaled deeply now, "Hey, look.  I'm not upset.  Not at all.  I've
never had a stunningly beautiful, highly intelligent, and obviously very
talented woman take the time to draw sketches of me.  Who wouldn't be
honored by that?"

   Despite her best effort to remain sulking, the compliments actually made
Sara's stomach feel warm.  She kept her head down, but glanced at him,
whispering "Thank you."

   He lifted an arm, hesitated for a second, and then put it around her. 
Giving her a small hug.  Trying to reassure her that it was okay.

   In that one moment, Sara decided she was going to do something. 
Obviously this was going to be the last time she was going to see him. 
After the pad incident, she couldn't fathom talking to Stacey again.

   She felt like that gave her a bit of freedom.  If she did the wrong
thing, she'd just leave.  If she did the right thing, she'd still leave
afterwards.  They'd never see each other again.  And it wouldn't ever
matter.

   Sara slipped her hand off the table and placed it in Ben's lap.  Not
just anywhere in his lap either, right in his crotch.  She just held her
hand there, not moving.

   "Uh, Sara?" Ben asked, more than a bit questioningly.  The contact
caught him by surprise, making him relax the hug, but not let go of her.

   Sara didn't reply though.  She just rubbed him lightly, her fingers
grasping him.  Trying to make out his shape beneath the jeans.  She
couldn't tell if he was hard or not, but either way, she wanted to make him
that way soon.

   "Sara?" Ben repeated, still not moving.

   "Shhh." Sara whispered in reply, her eyes glancing around the mostly
empty dining room.  Checking to see if anyone noticed what was going on.

   She withdrew her hand slightly, causing Ben to gasp.  But she kept her
fingers in contact.  Trying to trace his flesh, gauge his size.

   "Sara." Ben repeated, trying to sound a bit more forceful, his voice
just a whisper.

   "This isn't a good idea." He started to say, but his voice was cut off
as Sara's fingers found his zipper and drew it down.

   "Sara." He repeated, more urgently now.  Panic starting to set into his
mind.

   "Shhh." Sara repeated.  "I want to do this.  If you really want me to
stop, just say so.  And I won't say a word about it to anyone."

   She slipped into the opening in his jeans, fingers slowly navigating
their way through the cloth of his boxers.

   "You..." He started to gasp out, feeling the steady progress she was
making.  "You don't need to do this."

   "I know." Sara whispered, her fingers finally finding his flesh,
grasping it lightly.  "I said I wanted to do it."

   With her hand wrapped around his cock, all of Ben's resolve seemed to
drain out of him.  She pulled him gently, drawing his cock out of his
jeans.

   Ben had the presence of mind to use his foot to draw the stroller closer
to the table.  Blocking the view of any nosey passerbys, should any show
up.

   With his cock free, Sara was able to stroke him up and down.  It was a
maneuver she'd gotten quite adept at with her own boyfriend.  She could
feel that he was quite hard and judging by touch, he was considerably
bigger than the one boy she had done this with.

   Ben's arm clutched her shoulder even tighter now, showing how much he
seemed to be enjoying this.

   She stroked him and then released her grip slightly, letting her palm
move over the head of his cock.  She could feel his pre-cum stain her hand,
which she then rubbed back over his tip, making him gasp out in pleasure.

   "My boyfriend showed me how to do this." She whispered to him as her
hand returned to stroke his length up and down.  "I haven't let him fuck me
or anything like that, even though he keeps asking."

   Ben tried to reply to her words, but all he managed was a dull moan of
her name.

   Sara started to stroke him faster now.  She could feel his breathing on
her neck again, rapid, labored breathes.  She started to move her hand even
faster now, using her thumb to rub his head on the up strokes.

   "Sara..." Ben managed to groan out in a whisper.  "..I'm gonna..."

   He didn't manage to finish the words though.  Sara felt his cock twitch,
grow even harder, and then felt the pulse of the cum shooting out of him.
The splash of it hitting the under side of the table sounded like surf
breaking on the shore.  One splash, another, a third, and then finally one
last trickle.

   Sara just held his cock in her hand as it slowly began dwindling.

   For his part, Ben didn't move or say a word.  Trying desperately to
regain his breath.

   Sara used her free hand to grab one of the clean napkins, slipping it
under the table and carefully cleaning his cock off.  She then tucked it
back into his shorts, before drawing his zipper back up.  She could feel
his cooling cum start to drip off the underside of the table and reached
for more napkins to stop it.

   "Sara..." Ben finally managed to croak out as she was cleaning.

   "Yes?" She asked as she used the last of the napkins to clean her hand.

   "Why?" Ben asked, feeling a bit confused.

   Sara shrugged slightly, "Because I wanted to?  Because you're a nice
guy? And now I got to have a little bit of you just for myself?"

   She reached for her pad and delicately slipped it back into her
backpack. She had every intention of leaving now.

   "We're staying at the Contemporary Resort." Ben started to say, his face
still a mask of confusion.  "Room 1723."

   Sara just nodded to him, not really sure of what to say in reply to
that. Hopping out of her seat and leaning into the stroller just long
enough to kiss April's cheek, before heading towards the stairs.