"Being at ease in his hometown would get him killed. I still say the word is satisfied--or possibly mollified." In the bullpen, this would be when and where they would get side tracked into vocabulary lessons and increasingly obscure tangents, and Perry would eventually interrupt, tell them who was right, and to keep the foreplay out of his newsroom.

She's gotten more used to life here; for the first time in a long time she aches for home quite viciously. The only real sign, given that he can't hear and see his usual physical clues into her mindset, is the aborted reach for him that ends in her lightly closing a hand around one of the bars.

"I could try to look at patterns of appearances and disappearances, if you want, or have people look at it. Could make a good story. I doubt I'll find anything, though."