The day had been overcast since dawn, now though, the sun shone weakly between the clouds, feeble light playing upon the trees, and creating dappled patterns on the ground.
It took a little over twenty minutes for my cottage to be completely cleared out. Having agreed to come back with them, Striker and Ripley had flown around the small rooms, collecting every article of my belongings and packing them into the back of Striker"s Landcruiser; Marianne and Gwynn had insisted on cleaning until the cottage was fresh and perfect to hand back to Maude. If I"d been doing the cleaning, it would have taken a couple of hours. With their phenomenal speed, Marianne and Gwynn took roughly the same amount of time that Striker and Ripley had taken to completely the empty the place. I sat on my old armcha
