The wind was still blowing.I sat inside with Kathryn while the boy took his bath. She kept the room dark, drinking a beer, still in her tank top, the bandanna loose around her neck now."So. How's the job coming? Where have you been spending time?”"Turkey," I said. "Pakistan now and then.”"I'd like to meet Rowser sometime. No, I wouldn't.”"You'd hate him but in a healthy way. He'd add years to your life. He has a new thing. It's a briefcase. Looks and feels like a briefcase. Except it has a recording device, a device that detects other recording devices, a burglar alarm, a Mace-spraying device and a hidden tracing transmitter, whatever that is.”"Do you hate him in a healthy way?”"I don't hate him at all. Why should I hate him? He gave me the job. The job pays well. And I get to see my family. How would I get to see my little expatriate family if it weren't for Rowser and his job and his risk assessments?”"Is he adding years to your life?”"I enjoy it. It's an interesting part of the world. I feel I'm involved in events. Sure, sometimes I see it from a different perspective. Yours, of course. It's just insurance. It's the world's biggest, richest companies protecting their investments.”"Is that my perspective?”"Don't I know what you hate by this time?”"There ought to be something higher than the corporation. That's all.”"There's the orgasm.”"You've had a long tiring trip." She drank from the bottle. "I think I distrust the idea of investing, somehow, more than corporations themselves. I keep saying 'somehow.' Tap catches me at it. There's something secret and guilty about investing. Is that a foolish thing to believe? It's the wrong use of the future.”"That's why they use small print to list stock prices.”"Secret and guilty. How's your Greek?”"Terrible. I leave the country for three days and forget everything. I know the numbers.”"Numbers are good," she said. "They're the best place to start.”"At dinner the other night I asked for chicken shit instead of grilled chicken.