9 comments/ 12654 views/ 7 favorites Minerva Ch. 10 of 10 By: Denham_Forrest Our brief meal over, I thought that it really was about time I broached a subject with Lady Tanya -- that had been bugging me for the previous few days -- before we returned to Kylie's bedside. Helen Carpenter must have realised that I was building up to something, because she made some inane excuse and left the two of us alone at the table. "Lady Simpson..." I ventured. Hoping my formality would... well I'm not sure what I was trying to achieve really. "Tanya, Gilroy! Is something bothering you? Minerva will be quite safe at Tarrent Hall, you know. "Oh, I'm sure she will be... Tanya, but... well, you seem to... well, it's like this..." I really didn't know how to say, what I wanted to say, and found myself scrabbling around for some form of words to use. "That I've jumped to the conclusion that you and Minerva will get married as soon as she recovers." Lady Tanya obviously knew what was on my mind. "Yes, well, we only knew each other very briefly, Tanya... But for some reason you appear to have assumed that it was a great romance." "Oh but it was, Gilroy. Well it was very important to Minerva anyway. And your frustrated searched for her... and obvious disappointment... even your clearly discernable emotional hurt when you could no longer find her, that all of your friends were aware of. Well... that told me that your brief romance was very important to you, as well. "I'm sorry, but when Minerva called to tell me that she'd found the man she intended to marry. I very quickly had you thoroughly investigated... and watched for a while, Gilroy. Watched very closely to be truthful. But regretfully, not for long enough, as it was to turn out." "She told you that we were going to get married. But we hardly knew each other... When did...." "The morning after they had arrived at the Cliff Head hotel, you hadn't met each other at the time to be truthful. But Minerva called me at Tarrent Hall that morning, and informed me that she thought she'd found that special person for her. The one I'd always told her she would find, one day. Funny really, she said that you hadn't even noticed her at dinner the evening before; but she assured me that she was going to find a way to... attract your attention. "You must understand JG, that William Burgess... well, when he talked to Minerva; he talked about family duty, and all that silly rubbish. When it came to romance, Minerva had always turned to me for advice. And I had told her many times, that when she met the right man for her; she would know him the instant she laid eyes on him... It had always worked for me anyway... and I was extremely happy with all of my husbands. Regretfully I've outlived every one of them though." More than likely worn the buggers out, was the thought that crossed my mind. There was something about Lady Tanya that kind of told me that she had been a 'real girl' in her younger days. If you don't understand what I'm inferring by that; then I'm afraid you have lived a much too sheltered life. "Minerva saw you at dinner that evening and enquired of the staff whether you were... well 'spoken for', later. When they assured her that you weren't, to their knowledge... I understand there were a couple of young ladies working at the hotel with all the right attributes to catch a handsome young man's eye... well, do I have to clarify?" "No I get where you are going Tanya. Some of the younger female staff at the Cliff Head, were very attractive. But my Uncle and Aunt owned the establishment." "And you weren't silly enough to mess on your own doorstep. See, I understand you more than you'll ever know Gilroy. And so did Minerva. Whatever, after assuring herself that you were a free agent, she set about catching your attention. Very successfully, from what I understand. "Unfortunately its now apparent that William Burgess had other plans for Minerva. Or, more than likely, Minerva's financial holdings. I really should have seen that coming, but I had no idea he'd pull a stunt like he did. Who could envisage anyone doing something like that to a young girl like Minerva? His own niece as well! "Minerva called me later that week, and informed me that she had to leave with William's entourage for France or Switzerland for some reason. But she assured me that... Well Gilroy, she thought she had you well and truly hooked, and said that she was quite definitely going to marry you, eventually. But she admitted to me that she hadn't informed you of that fact at the time. Minerva said that she was sure you were hooked well enough, that you'd wait until she returned to University in the autumn. But then... well nothing. "That wasn't unusual by the way; for me not to hear from her for a while, that is. I have to admit that I really don't know everything that went on in that household, or whatever you like to call it. Minerva would call me on the telephone frequently when she was in the UK, but very rarely when she was out of the country. I think... No, I know, that William Burgess disapproved of the influence I brought to bear on Minerva. "He had complained frequently when she was younger, that Minerva would become too strong-willed... for his liking... after she'd visited Tarrent Hall for a few days. "I do believe, that Minerva liked to keep most of her contact with me, secret from Burgess and Cruella de Vil..." "Who?" "Oh, that Beverly Masters woman, who was supposed to be Minerva's companion and tutor or something, when she was younger. Actually I think she was one of William's mistresses; but what even he could have seen in her, I'll never now. Very hard and austere looking woman... whenever I saw her; she was dressed in black all the time!" "Ah yes, I do think I remember having a kind of mental confrontation with someone like that on the stairs at the Cliff Head. I'd just waved to Kylie I think and she... let us just say, that the look she gave me, might have turned a lesser man to stone." "Yes that sounds like Masters alright. Minerva always referred to her as Cruella de Vil... out of her earshot, of course. "From what I understand Minerva and her came to blows eventually, and that's when William employed Ben Johnson, to keep close tabs on her. I always thought it odd that he didn't fire the Masters woman; perhaps that's where I got the idea that she was around for some other purpose as well. Like you, I lost track of Minerva myself once they'd gone onto the continent. To be fully open and honest with you Gilroy, that was when I first set the dogs onto you in a serious way. But the Carpenters people soon discovered that you were desperately trying to ascertain Minerva's whereabouts." "I'm afraid that by the time you had your accident, I'd had John Carpenter's people switch their attention to trying to track down Minerva's exact whereabouts. I'd received a rather odd letter from her that... well it didn't tally with the facts, as I knew them. More curiously from what I'd learned, is that it accused someone of toying with her emotions." "Who, me?" "Well yes and no! But there was something very strange about that letter anyway. It was written by Minerva, I'm fairly sure of that; I had it checked by several writing experts, or rather John Carpenter had it checked for me. Most of them agreed that it was Minerva's handwriting. But in that letter she mentioned a young man who she referred to by his initials... GJ to be precise! At the time I thought it was a simple mistake Minerva had made. Although, the rest of the letter didn't... gel very well, with what I knew anyway. Regretfully I didn't place as much importance on that apparently simple little error, as I should have done; I could kick myself now. That was really driven home to me when Minerva woke up earlier. "Minerva had called you GJ in that letter, on purpose. I'm sure it was supposed to tell me that something wasn't right. She'd giggled on the telephone, when she told me that for some reason you reversed your initials." "I didn't Tanya, the lads at school did; I've never understood why." "Well I'm sure now that Minerva put them the other way around on purpose. She'd been very specific in everything she told me about you, Gilroy. I'm sure that I would have recognised you in the street, even before I'd seen a photograph of you. No, I'm furious with myself that I didn't spot her warning, or plea for help, for what it was. I should have known that something was wrong, when that letter arrived. "Especially as she said in that letter that you'd broken it off with her, but I knew that you were calling your press contacts all over France and Switzerland trying to trace where she could possibly be. I didn't know where she was either, by the way. There was no return address on that letter." "Then a few weeks later Minerva didn't show up for her next term at Cambridge. That's when I really got worried and called the Carpenter's off of you and set them to searching for William and Minerva. I was getting nowhere trying to contact William through the usual channels." "Eventually, several months later, Beverly Masters telephoned and informed me that they were all living in South America and that Minerva had married Fabian. "A few weeks later, I received some rather cryptic telephone calls, on very bad lines, from someone in South America purporting to be Minerva. Looking back now, I'm sure it wasn't my niece. It sounded very much like her, of course. But... I can't say for sure now Gilroy, at the time I though it was Minerva. But a Minerva who had changed somehow. "Maybe a little more headstrong, than even myself, or her own mother when we were the same age; different than I'd ever known Minerva to be before, anyway. But people do change as the get older and wiser don't they?" "But now I'm sure that it was an impostor who called me. I don't think it was the Jessup girl. But whoever she was, she has called me several times over the last few years. Always very brief, how are you keeping type, conversations. "I've also received a letter about every six months or so. Also brief, and rather formal sometimes. I'm sure now, that all of those letters I received, except for that first one, were forgeries. And I believe that that Minerva wrote that first letter under duress. That was really what all those inconsistencies, your reversed initials for instance, were about; the poor girl was trying to tell me that something serious was going on." "It could be because I set the Carpenters looking for them after I received that letter that they switched to forged letters. Someone as powerful as William Burgess, surely soon got word that someone else, as well as you, was enquiring about Minerva's whereabouts." "Anyway that's unimportant now really; we have her back, don't we..." "Tanya, I don't like to be the one who has to point this out to you, but we have someone back. But... after all that's happened to her, will she turn out to be the niece you... lost four years ago? Or even the young woman I met at the Cliff Head hotel." "Gilroy, we can't afford to think that way; for Minerva's sake. We... you and I, have got to... well, I'm not sure, but we have to 'be there', for Minerva now. We have got to assure her that we're ready to support her whatever it takes." "Although I can understand that you are a young man... but well, please, give her a few months; see how it goes?" "Tanya, I can assure you that I'm in for the long haul, if that is what Kylie... Minerva, wants. I will happily visit you both at Tarrent Hall as often as she, or you wish." "Nonsense Gilroy, you will live at the Hall, for the time being at least. I'm sorry, I should say, please will you take up residence in the Hall until Minerva recovers." "I have a job and a flat that I have to pay the rent on, Tanya. I can't really..." "Your job, should you wish to go back to it, is ring-fenced Gilroy. Some time ago I made it my business to acquire a large proportion of the shares in your newspaper's parent company. Your flat, well, I'll happily clear the mortgage on that for you, if you wish. You were told that you were going to inherit my entire... well, whatever had happened in the last few days, I had never intended that you would walk away empty handed, in the first place. Besides, you'll need a good financial footing of your own, or people will say that you married Minerva for her money!" "Christ, you don't give up easily, do you Tanya?" "Gilroy... Yes I am persistent, and I've got every husband that I ever set my sights on, if you understand me?" She smiled at me. Lady Tanya, why don't I find that at all surprising?" I asked, smiling back at her. ---- ---- ---- ---- The doctor was right. Kylie did keep... well not so much waking up, I'm sure that she was awake quit a lot of the time. But most of the time she was very obviously on a different planet. I think the nearest comparison I can make that folks might understand is with someone who is very inebriated; 'drunk as a skunk', as they say. When she did speak, Kylie was slurring her words. As she had done when she first woke up. Most of the time she appeared to be on planet nine. Other times she'd half open her eyes and squint at people in the room with what I can only describe as a confused expression on her face. Then she mumbled some inane and often unintelligible comment, before closing her eyes again and returning to cloud nine, I assume. However we, Tanya and I, could pick out that she'd mentioned both of our names, when her eyes happened see either of us sitting beside the bed. We were taking turns in that duty. It was a very long day, longer than the previous night had seemed to be. But as the afternoon went on Minerva's periods, well I can't call it consciousness, because I'm sure she wasn't fully compos mentis, as they say. I can't even call it alertness; because she wasn't alert by any interpretation you like to put on it. Whatever those periods of confused staring around the room began to get longer, and she managed a few quizzical half-smiles. Sometime during the afternoon Bernie turned up with a change of clothes for me, bringing with him one of Tanya's female staff with the same for her. The empty room next door, with it's en suite facilities being made available by the hospital authorities for us to shower and change in. We ate in shifts; myself with Tanya's maid, -- or whatever she is supposed to be, in the ensuing years I've discovered that Catherine is more of a companion to Tanya than anything else -- and Lady Tanya with Ber-nard. How Tanya seemed to enjoy winding Bernie up sometimes, by emphasising the syllables of his full name, when he tries to get 'all-formal' with her. That night Tanya and I took turns sleeping in that next-door room as well. Well, I think sleeping isn't the right description, we both took short naps on the bed in there. However I had Bernie with me and Catherine would accompany Tanya. There was still a police presence in the corridor, but I'm not sure how the guys kept track of the comings and goings. Later I discovered that some of the Carpenter guy's were kicking around that hospital as well. William Burgess had still not been apprehended. Actually Burgess was to stay at large for four years, until he was discovered living in the Philippines somewhere. Not in South America where the general consensus thought he would be hiding out. Burgess was spotted walking down a street, by an Australian tourist -- who was on his way back from a holiday in the UK -- by all accounts. Anyway, it must have been about four or five o'clock the following morning when I return from taking a little break to find Tanya sitting on Kylies bed and talking to her. It soon became apparent that neither Kylie nor Tanya had heard me enter the room. "... He did lose heart for a while there Minerva." Tanya was saying, "But after that nasty accident he had, if that's what is was, who could blame him? But he spotted that impostor woman quickly enough. Nice boy, I'm sure I would have gone after him myself in my younger days. And he's still on you hook Minerva, all you got to do is, carefully real him in." "Ahem." I said to make my presence known. "Oh Gilroy, you took me by surprise. Minerva is awake and finally with-us, as you say. But she's still very... confused." "So I gather Tanya, and you were helping her sort her mind out, were you?" "Minerva's priorities, Gilroy. She's not sure who she can trust at the moment." "Neither am I, Tanya. Should we let things develop as... god intended?" "Oh yes, I agree with you there, but I'll just chivvy things along when I can, if need be. You two have lost almost four years you know." "Lady Tanya, you are incorrigible!" "Yes, and I'll make sure that my niece gets what she wants in the future. Now why don't Catherine and I go take a little nap, and you can welcome back Minerva into the real world. Come along Catherine... and you Bernie!" They left and I went over to the bed from where Kylie was gazing up at me and sat where Tanya had been sitting. "I knew that it wouldn't be anyone else, but you." She said smiling at me properly for the first time "Who wouldn't?" I asked. "My rescuer! I dreamed that you came to rescue me so many times, but they were all dreams. Then suddenly someone was carrying me in his arms. I looked and saw your face, but then it was someone else. I thought it was another dream but then I was in a strange place and you were sitting in that chair. I had prayed that you'd come one day." "Well you see it wasn't really me. Your aunt Tanya..." "She thinks, I made a very good choice in you." "Choice about what?" "Hasn't she told you, surely she has? We're going to get married, JG! I'd made my mind up about that a long time ago." "We are? Don't you think that you should recover from this ordeal Kylie, before you make those kind of decisions about the future?" "If you insist, I'll wait; but I'm not liable to change my mind. All I've had to think... and dream about, for the last couple of years, is us... you and me, together." "Then I'd say that is a very good reason to wait a while, and take stock of everything. Kylie we knew each other for no more than a few days. And during that time we were together for a very few hours." "Yes, but what a few hours! I've relieved every minute of them over and over again, all the time I've was held in that place." We went on in a similar vain for some considerable time. Although I did hug Kylie a few times when she asked me to... Okay and I even kissed her on the lips as well; even though that was against my better judgement. Look, Minerva had been through an ordeal the like of which, few of us can imagine. It was only natural that Kylie was vulnerable, mentally at that time. And I had no intention of taking advantage of that vulnerability. Sorry, that just isn't how I'm made. A little latter Tanya returned, with all the medical people and informed us that Minerva was to be transported to Tarrent Hall directly after we'd all had some breakfast. Which -- probably under Lady Tanya's influence -- was served up in Kylie's room for all five of us on trays. Then Bernie and I made ourselves scarce, while my Kylie was transformed into Lady Minerva. A surprisingly quick operation, actually. But knowing Tanya like I did by then, probably very efficiently carried out by professionals. I discovered why, on our way down to the ground floor. Lady Minerva had been located, so the story had finally broken in the press. On the ground floor a large group of John Carpenter's guys were waiting and they closed in around us to escort us out to the cars. Several dozen police officers were lining the steps holding the press and TV people back, so that we could actually make it to the vehicles. Lady Minerva, refused to be pushed out to the Rolls in the wheelchair the hospital staff had insisted that she used to get down to the ground floor. Resplendent in the large sunglasses, that were hiding her still puffy eyes -- come on, we all know what peoples eyes can look like when they've been on some drugs for to long -- she walked, rather unsteadily, out of the hospital holding -- very tightly -- onto my right arm. Minerva Ch. 10 of 10 She even managed a little wave for the crowd, but ignored their shouted questions. Until one of them asked whether I was Gilroy Jameson, just as I was helping her into the Rolls. Kylie stopped, turned to me and kissed me on the lips and then called back, "What do you think?" But she ignored the follow-on, "When are you going to get married?" question. ---- ---- ---- ---- At Tarrent Hall we found a police car and several officers, along with John Carpenter's people, guarding the front gate. Several of John's people were patrolling around on motorcycles as well. No longer a covert security operation, they were there to keep the paparazzi away from the Hall and out of the grounds. The instant Lady Minerva entered the great house; she immediately morphed back into my Kylie. But then very quickly retired to bed. The journey had knocked all the life out of her. Around three o'clock the following morning, I awoke to find Kylie sitting on my bed. Well I don't think it was her sitting on the bed that woke me, more the kiss she was applying to me forehead. "What are you doing Kylie, you shouldn't be in here; it's not proper." I said, but she stilled my tongue, by planting a kiss on my lips. I'd better point out that I found myself in a rather embarrassing position. Firstly I have always slept as nature intended, as they say. And secondly Kylie was sitting on the bed covers on one side of me, and leaning over, her elbow holding down the covers on the other side. Effectively I could not move, unless I became really violent. Neatly trapped, one might say. "I got lonely, I can't dream of rescue anymore and... Well, I wanted to feel what it's like to have you hold me in your arms again." "Kylie I'm not wearing..." "That was obvious before I sat on the bed JG, I had to cover you. But I'm not shy either." She said sitting up and grabbing at her nightdress. "Whoa, hold up there Kylie! Tanya would have my guts for garters." "Don't be so silly. Aunt Tanya believes that we should go where our heart leads us. Besides I only want a cuddle!" "If it's a cuddle you want, come here, lay down on me and I'll cuddle you." "No it's cold out here. I want to come under the covers with you." I could see that Kylie had made her mind up, but I was still worried about the delicate mental condition thing. Actually I was in a real quandary, I had no idea how Kylie would take it, if I told her no. I did some quick lateral thinking. "I tell you what Kylie. You go out of the room for five minutes, and if you still wish to sleep in this bed with me after that five minutes is up, you may. And what's more, I promise you that I'll cuddle you real tight for the rest of the night." She gave me a strange, curious look, then agreed to the deal and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. The instant the door had closed I dived out of bed, hunted down my tracksuit trousers and put them on. Then I dived back into bed and arranged the bedcovers carefully; even leaving one side open so Kylie could enter the bed easily. Then I lay on my back, my right arm outstretched so that I could envelop her with it. "Rotten cheat, that was a sneaky thing to do." Kylie said as she cuddled up beside me. "I can understand why you did it anyway. From the eye-full I got, when first I came into the room; our honeymoon will hold no surprises for me now." "Oh I'm sure that... if it ever comes to a honeymoon, kylie, I'll surprise you somehow. I promise you that." "Sometimes you do talk rubbish Gilroy, of course we'll be wed... eventually. Aunt Tanya says that if I play my cards right, I've got the winning hand." "Oh, and how does she work that one out?" Suddenly I felt Kylie's right leg move up over my legs, she then slowly raised it until her inner thigh made contact with my groin. Which I have to admit achieved, the reaction that I have to assume Kylie had been expecting and planning it would. "Hook, line, and sinker, JG. All I got to do is reel you in." She whispered, "That shouldn't take me too long now. "Kylie, firstly I fear that you are recovering from your ordeal, a little too quickly. Secondly you are assuming that I'm a gentleman. I might well be the type of person who... "Gilroy Jameson! Do I look that stupid? I have it on good authority, from the girls at the Cliff Head, who told me that you were a real gentleman about that kind of thing. At least two of them you could have had a one-night-stand with, whenever you wanted, by the way." "How come, no bugger told me about that, at the time?" "JG, I told you I'm not that daft. Anyway, and then, when we swam out to the headland... Well I threw myself at you and no one could see us out there, but you behaved yourself like a perfect gentleman. Rather disappointing, actually!" "Kylie?" "Yes darling?" "Will you please go to sleep now?"" "If that's what you really want darling." ---- ---- ---- ---- Okay we just cuddled that night, and for many nights after. Kylie would retire to her own room each evening, but during the night she'd join me in my bed at sometime. In the end, it got so obvious that the staff would bring Kylie's breakfast straight to my room in the mornings. However, I wore my tracksuit bottoms to bed every night, until the wedding. Mind you, that didn't stop Kylie wearing some ever more brief night attire, in an attempt to break my resolve, I believe. Honestly I think, had it not become some kind of a game we were both playing, I might well have weakened. Odd that Kylie and I share the wish to win character. But I'm not exactly sure every other guy in the world would think that I had won that one though. Or, that I wasn't completely off my head. ---- ---- ---- ---- One might ask why I remained living at Tarrent Hall? Well I had little choice really; Kylie needed me and for many weeks my flat was under siege by the press. A couple of the Carpenters people had to move in there as house sitters. Kylie and I, being safely holed-up in Tarrent Hall and out of their reach, at least one -- presumably less reputable -- reporter had tried to break-in, looking for I don't know what. Probably some muck he could sell to the iffy Sunday papers. It was truly remarkable how quickly Kylie recovered from her ordeal. She says it's because she spent nearly all of her... under the influence time, dreaming about me. Flattering I can assure you, but surely not the whole truth. But she would say little else about those almost four years. Four months almost to the day after Harcourt and Sandra knocked on my door -- one day short to be precise -- Kylie and I walked out of Tarrent Hall's private chapel man and wife. Marco played my Best Man and Bernie gave Kylie away. Tanya by that time, had taken both of them onto the full-time staff at Tarrent Hall, and moved their families into tied cottages on the estate. Although both guys still work for the Carpenters sometimes, when their rather special talents are required. One might also ask about the difference between Lady Minerva and my own financial standing. Well after Tanya got finished, legally there wasn't one. Lady Tanya took me completely by surprise by not only naming me as her heir, but formally adopting me. Much to the consternation of most of her other relatives I have to point out; with the exception of Kylie of course. Although Lady Minerva still had her estate in Scotland -- Burgess and Fabian's father (and possibly Fabian himself, but he wasn't charged over it) had liquidated some of the Wisdom family assets; the cash had disappeared into the crooks bank accounts. And from there, to... well, no one knew for sure. Whatever Kylie was still a very rich woman, but my potential worth was the greater. Lady Tanya and I spent many hours together where she... taught me how one should handle.... living with that kind of cash in the bank. Less than a year after our wedding Kylie and I -- along with her aunt Tanya -- moved into the manor house I'd first met Tanya in. Both Tanya and Kylie thought that the Hall was too large to bring up a modern family in. Tarrent Hall is undergoing complete and full restoration, in readiness to be opened to the public in the near future. Lady Minerva's Scottish estate is in the process of being repaired and converted into a country hotel. It had been all but abandoned by William Burgess, while he was running things. ---- ---- ---- ---- Only the psychiatrist who set the place up, and a couple of his staff were charged with kidnapping Lady Minerva. Well all the other staff had been told that she was a very mixed-up Sarah Jessup, who thought she was Lady Minerva Wisdom. Just about the perfect cover story actually. The odd times that Kylie did manage to speak to anyone and tell them that she was being held against her will, she was telling what they already knew. Or, what they thought she incorrectly believed, anyway; does that make sense? Mind you, that didn't explain away that guy on reception, claiming that he'd never heard mention of a Lady Minerva. But then again, he had claimed that he'd never been anywhere near the fourth floor anyway, didn't he? ---- ---- ---- ---- As I've already told you, William Burgess was eventually picked-up in the Philippines. On his return to the UK, he faced all kinds of charges connected with his businesses empire; as well as complicity in the kidnapping and unlawful detainment of Kylie. To which -- somewhat surprisingly -- he pled guilty. But less than a year later (before he'd been brought up on the conspiracy to commit murder charges) he was found dead in his prison cell, from a heart attack. One wonders whether he knew he was on borrowed time, and that's why he had wanted the court case over as quickly as possible. Fabian's father never did stand trial. By the time the Argentinean authorities went looking for him, he was nowhere to be found. Apparently he'd been getting up to similar tricks, in his business dealings out there, as Burgess had been pulling in the UK Europe and America. Fabian himself, served five years of a seven-year sentence, and then was shipped off out of the country. I'm not sure, somewhere in Eastern Europe I believe. Kylie and I have three children now, and we spend quite a few weeks every summer at the Cliff Head. Jack and Grace along with Lady Tanya are godparents to all of the children, of course. Tanya actually comes along sometimes, and with Grace's connivance, she drives Aunt Gertrude potty. But I think its all a big game to them really. That really is the whole story, as I know it anyway. Lady Minerva will add no more I'm sure. But if you can persuade Kylie to put in an appearance, then she's a little more open. It rather depends on whether she decides that you are a friend, or just another nosy undercover reporter. Life goes on. Sorry, posting of this story was interrupted by circumstances completely beyond my control. As most people are aware, after an unpleasant email exchange with the sites webmasters, he who is Denham Forrest, refuses to post here personally. R Ribbs