Sid and Harry had taken turns to follow Annie to the bus each day. There hadn't been any sign of the young man following her so Sid doubted he was dangerous. He suspected the man just suffered from lack of self-confidence, which caused anxiety attacks and shyness. Sid took a sip of his coffee thinking about the tall gangly looking man and felt sorry for him. He knew what it was like to be awkward around women and he was glad he'd never had to ask many out in his life time.

"You gonna play your next hand or are you gonna daydream all day?"

Sid chuckled and grinned at Harry. He put down his cup, looked at the cards in his hand, and then threw down the two of clubs so he could lose the hand. "I was thinking about Mister Short Pants. I feel sorry for him."

Harry picked up his winnings and reshuffled the pack. "Yeah, I can't imagine being one of the world's outcasts an easy thing to live with."

"Not that, Harry. I mean being shy like he is. It's a hard thing being shy but worse when there's a woman involved."

"You lost me, Sid," Harry said as he dealt out the next hand.

"Shit. No wonder you never married, Harry. Were you ever interested in women? You don't take notice of anything."

"Hey... I take notice of stuff. I wouldn't have been as successful as I was if I didn't take notice."

Sid shook his head in disbelief. "I'm not talking about that kind of stuff. What I'm saying is it's a hard thing to be keen on someone and not have the confidence to speak to them. Look at me. I met Mary when I was eight and she was six. Jordy Hanson ripped the head off her doll. She asked me to fix it for her. When I did, she told me I was going to be her best friend and when we grew up, she'd let me marry her. I fell in love with her right then and there." Grinning, Sid continued, "You know what, Harry. That's exactly what happened. Mary went away for a year to study to be a nurse and even though I'd known her all my life I couldn't talk to her when she came back because I was so shy."

"So, how'd you end up marrying her if you couldn't talk to her?" Harry neatened the pile of cards and put them in the middle of the table.

"Well, I eventually got up the courage to say hello." Sid laughed at the memory. "She put her hands on her hips and said, 'So you're going to speak to me now, Sid Collins. It better be a damn sight more than just a hello or you can go to buggery'." Sid shook his head and chuckled some more as he said, "I gaped wide-eyed and struggled to come up with something to say so I said, 'The weathers nice today'."

"Ah... you didn't, Sid?" Harry laughed.

"Yep, I did. It was all I could think to say. Mary went into a fit of laughter, and then she gave me a lashing of her tongue. I eventually blurted out how I'd missed her, and then fumbled asking her out. She said yes, thank Christ, and we never left each other's sides again."

Sid peered at Harry as he picked up his cards. "It was Mary who encouraged me to become an ambulance officer. She helped me study and was there for me through the rough times." He sighed and shook his head as he continued, "When I came home after attending a badly beaten child, who had been raped by her father, Mary said it was enough and I agreed. She was everything to me. If it hadn't been for her, I'd have never married another."

Jerking his head towards Rohan, Sid added, "I feel sorry for him. He likes Annie, I'm sure. But he'll never have the courage to approach her. It's a debilitating thing to be shy."

"What happened to the kid?"

"What?"

"You said you retired because of the sight of a child who'd been raped by her father. I prosecuted a man for doing that. I just wondered if it was the same case. Did she live?"

"She lived. I was told she went to family. Father's name was Hunter if I recall."

"That's him. They killed him you know."

"Who killed him?"

"The other inmates. Two months after going in they killed him. They raped him with a piece of metal and cut his penis off. Crims don't like rapist and child molesters."

"Well, there you go. Knowing the state that girl was in, I'd say justice was done."

"Yep." Harry cocked his head. "Are we gonna finish this game or not?"

Sid looked at his cards and threw down the ace of spades.    

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