floats.” Evan loved her innocence. “How much longer do you think everyone could go on without getting suspicious of us? Michelle, I"ve been around a long time… you know that. I"ve seen towns, and even cities, change drastically within a couple of decades. We"ll come back here someday… you"ll see. It won"t be the same place. You"ll be glad we moved on.” Michelle"s eyes brightened with hope. “When will we return?” Evan tried to soften the blow with a kiss. “When we are certain that those who knew us are no longer here. We"ll get to witness the next generation of your old town.” Michelle put her head under Evan"s chin. “My parents will be dead when we return, won"t they?” “They would have to be. I know this is a lot for you to accept. I"m sorry.” Evan paused, not knowing what to say next. “I love you and I look forward to spending year after year with you.” Michelle was visibly torn. “I… suppose that even normal people move away from their families because of jobs or the military… but they do get to keep in contact with their families.” Evan shrugged. He loved Michelle enough to let her choose to stay.“I could go far away by myself and keep in touch with you by letters. You could come to visit me from time to time. Maybe you could tell your parents what happened and everything will somehow work out for you. I just know from my own experience that staying in one place raises too many questions. I understand if you need timeto think things through. I"ll always be waiting for you.” “I could do that… but then I"d be watching my parents get old… and eventually they would die. No, Evan. I"ll go with you. I want to be with you. Can I just spend one more night at home… just to tell my parents that I love them? If I am going to leave without telling themI"m leaving, I would at least want to leave them with some nice words to remember me by.” “Sure, you can. You can have a week or a whole month if you"d like.” Michelle gave Evan a big kiss. “You"re the absolute greatest… and a week should be fine. It will give me a lot of chances to do some nice things for them. Plus I"m anxious to start my life by your side.” “I have to correct you, Michelle. You’re the greatest. We can tell your parents that we decided to go on a little trip. That will spare you from sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night. They may not approve of us going off together, being unmarried… but after all, you are eighteen.” Evan paused and looked forward to being with Michelle for countless years. “I can hardly wait to make love to you again.” Michelle looked lost in thought. “Is everything alright?” asked Evan. “Do you remember when we made love on my birthday?” “I may be old, but my memory is impeccable,” laughed Evan. “It was excellent… the best experience of my life.” “Mine too. But… I didn"t get pregnant with your child. I would have known by now if I did.” Evan sighed. “Michelle… I don"t know if you will ever get pregnant. That day was a good test. We were both so ready for each other. But I knew there were three possibilities. Either you would have a baby that would eventually grow older than us… the least desirable of the three scenarios… or you would have a baby thatwould never age… I"m not sure if that would be very desirable either… or no aging would take place inside your womb… and therefore no life would come to full term. It could very well be that the latter is our fate. Still… perhaps it"s best for us to use protection.” “I wanted so much tohave a baby with you… I didn"t think of the possibilities.” “And I just wanted to make love to you… so I didn"t think about it either. But it looks like your body just may not be capable of providing growth to new life. I suppose we can look for the silver lining and be glad that we can keep making love to each other.” Michelle giggled. “You know what might be a fun thing to do?