I got home at a reasonable hour this evening, building a drink before starting dinner and letting it soothe me as I watched some news and surfed the net for the rest of the story. Mrs Martial, part-time graduate student, got home a bit later as she stopped off at the library after her work-day. She finally stomped in and I got her a drink of her own. She joined me on the couch as I turned the tube off.

"So, what's going on in the world today?" she asked.

"We're heading to hell in a handbasket," I said, getting prepared to begin ranting about, oh, everything.

She looked off, out the window at our perfect view of Boston's pretty skyline. Turning back to me after a long moment, she said, "Well, at least it's a slow way to travel."