It took a little convincing. Not that Matt wasn't open to the idea. Just that he was wary. It seemed too good an opportunity... and seemingly out of nowhere.

“So let me get this straight...” he asked ….yet again. “....you're leaving for your Asian tour....”

“...with the cast of Thornbirds. Yeah. A press blitz. We've already terrorized North America, Europe and bits of North Africa. So yeah... we're off to blitz Asia next week.”

“And you want me to come along as ...staff photographer?”

“Only as far as Hawaii, passport boy” I grimaced. “Still, I think we can get you enough work and maybe some outside opportunities to cover another semester or two ...at least until you can heal up and try to talk them back into that track scholarship.”

“So you want me to cash in my bus ticket, call my Dad and tell him to pass the word that I'm not coming home.... that I've got a freelance gig and then I'm returning to school and paying my own way with the money I earned. That I don't need to borrow any from him or my insufferable brother in law... and I'm going to continue my pre-med studies?”

“That about covers it” I said dryly, fighting to suppress my smirk.

He kneaded his chin with his hand for a moment, trying to look ponderous.

“...And you don't already have a staff photographer?”

I shook my head. “Not that I know of. On the US & Europe tour it was just us, and a press and marketing team from the film company. They would get local freelancers when they needed.” I thought a moment and held up a finger “And, if they DO have a staff photographer, I'll say I want my own personal photo guy. Everyone was impressed by the work you did at the Ballgame and the Concert. It won't be a hard sell.”

“So. I leave my dorm and crash at your place....”

“You make it sound like you're sofa surfing. You check out of your dorm as scheduled, but instead of the bus depot, you join us on the plane. Hit Hawaii. We spend a few days and head west. You stick around a few more days if needed to wrap up any extra work we can round up and head to Monterrey and your waiting guestroom at casa Keller until you get paid for the gig and go back to school and that extravagant dorm living.”

“Why are you doing this?” Matt's skepticism was beginning to annoy me.

I looked at him with an expression that I hope projected 'Do you really have to ask?'

I held up my hand and started counting off fingers.

“Griffith Park.... The search... The FIND... Connecticut... The ballgame... The concert... ...and above all.... your discretion....” I reached out and took his hand. “You're a really decent guy... and I really-” I began to say 'like' but dodged at the last minute and said “-respect you”. Still, I was certain Matt knew what I was going to say by his look. That look was exactly why I didn't say it. It could be taken too many ways, and I wasn't ready to deal with the issues most of those ways would present.

Matt sighed melodramatically “Well, if it's that important to you.... sigh...” He actually said 'sigh!'

I broke into a laugh and he couldn't hold his own poker face. We were snickering like a couple of kids who had just cooked up a devilish scheme.

I caught Emile's furrowed brow in the rearview mirror. He tried to scowl, but quickly he was grinning too.

I didn't really have to work too hard to convince Dez to add Matt to the tour. I reminded him of the work he had done at the Hollywood Bowl show and the original UCLA 'bitch-off' between Bianca and me, and how the shots were buzzworthy, but not one was regrettable or embarrassing to any of the subjects.

“I understand you not wanting to pay him. Take it out of what you're paying me. He's so worth it.”

“That won't be necessary” Dez's voice was gentle. “I've learned to trust your instincts, and value your ideas.”

“I appreciate your vote of confidence. And normally by now I'd be scared to death of letting you down. But not so much anymore.” I sighed.

“Oh really?” Dez seemed amused. “Why not so much anymore?”

“Because in a few weeks, I'll be home, Katherine will be back, and none of my crazy ideas can blow up in anyone's face. ….except my own.”

Dez's light mood was gone. After a long pause, he took a long, slow breath. He spoke quietly. Almost reflectively.

“Yes. Katherine will be back. And our relationship will be ….....completed.”

I flinched reflexively. As much as I had been thinking about... dwelling on it. Still, hearing the words stabbed at me.

Dez went on. “When I began to concoct this plan after meeting you in the lift, I knew I was being foolishly optimistic that anything so ambitious and ….extemporaneous... could succeed at all. But that outrageous faith has served me well in the past, so I took the leap. ….WE took the leap. And I daresay it has worked out to a degree and in ways we could scarcely imagine.”

I barked a laugh that was filled with such overwhelming, conflicting emotions, they could only come out as that short, sharp laugh. I pictured Dez breaking a small smile and knowing nod on his end of the phone.

“What I'm saying Ms McGuiness, is that first day in the lift, neither of us could have imagined the course of events that would lead us to this conversation now. So don't be so smug as to presume you know where you will be half a year from now. Or even a month from now. You're exceptionally gifted, but I daresay you're no psychic.”

I laughed again. But this time without conflict.

“I told you before, outside that meeting at your agent's …..Katherine's agent's..... that the world is full of possibilities. One chapter may be ending, but your whole life is ahead of you.”

I sighed. “I can't see anything topping, or even equaling this.” I was feeling like those girls who peak at prom queen and begin the slow steady slide that is the remainder of their long mundane life.

Dez chuckled. “You know how this town can't resist a sequel to a great success.”

“So you ARE going to do a Thornbirds sequel?” I teased. Dez groaned. “How about a prequel with an all-child cast, like Bugsy Malone. You could call it Thornchicks!”

“GoodBYE Elsie.” Dez laughed. “I'll see you on the plane. Tomorrow.” I could still hear him laughing as he hung up.

I could see the bleary faces pressing against the dorm windows as we waited for Matt.

Emile reached for his door, I think going to Matt and announcing our arrival was reflex. I reached from the back to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Just honk the horn.”

He turned and shot me an appalled look. I returned his dismayed face with my own impish grin.

“Honk it.”

He squirmed a bit. “It's really early. Are you sure....” I was surprised at his 'backtalk', but I guess he was feeling more comfortable with me after that last meal at Jasper's....something else I was leaving Katherine to deal with, I smirked to myself.

I furrowed my brow and tried to look all bossy-lady-in-the-back.

“Driver. Honk. The HORN.” I tried to say imperiously. But ruined it with a giggle.

“But....” he protested weakly. Then shrugged. Just as he was about to press his palm to the wheel, I barked “WAIT!”

I gleefully texted Matt: “Get a move on Hopalong. Daylight's wasting!” and hit send as I realized daylight was just a glimmer over the horizon.

“Now.” I nodded to Emile.

He tapped the horn twice, it let out two quick bursts like gunshots.

“Longer.” I grinned. I could sense Emile's discomfort and it only made me more mischievous.

I opened my door and before he could step out himself, I leaned through his window and leaned on the horn, letting it ring through the quiet canyon of buildings, then I began stabbing at it percussively, noticing to my glee as sleepy faces began to press against window after window.

Finally Matt hobbled out his door with various duffles backpacks and gym bags wrapped around him like an explorer during a sherpa strike. Emile nudged by me and rushed to Matt, grabbing as many bags as he could unwrap from Matt's frame. I stood by the town car, arms crossed, grinning and occasionally staring down the random glaring face in the sea of windows.

As Matt hurled himself into the passenger side, I stood by my door and loudly slapped the roof over Emile's head, catching his startle out of the corner of my eye, and gleefully shouting loudly enough to echo from the buildings “Driver! To Hawaii!” and ducking back in as Emile sped off.

“So much for a discreet pick up” Emile muttered. I could tell he was amused too.

“Was that really necessary?” Matt sighed to me.

“Well, if you had been quietly waiting out front, I guess we would not have had the excuse.” I grinned. “Thanks for oversleeping.”

“I was NOT oversleeping! I was just....” Matt realized I was just messing with him and slumped down in his seat.

“First thing to learn in this town...” I chided him, one finger in the air “...learn how to make an entrance.”

“But I was leaving...” he meekly protested

“...OR an exit...” I went on as if he'd interrupted me.

“OK. OK....” I went on as if I was improvising on the spot. Which I guess I really was.

“FIRST thing to learn in this town!” I held my finger back up and paused, daring him to interrupt me. He looked up at me and sealed his lips into a tight line. I caught Emile's crinkling eyes in the rear view mirror. “LEARN..... how to make..... an EGRESS!” And I mock glared at him. “All right? College Boy?”

Matt grinned.

“No one will forget you now! Even those who didn't even know won't forget you.” I grinned.

“So when you DO go back to school.... you will have a reputation.”

“As the guy who woke up the neighborhood?”

I held up my finger yet again nodding. “....who woke up the neighborhood to get into a limo with insane celebrity Katherine Keller and go to Hawaii.”

“Um. You told the DRIVER to take us to Hawaii.”

“What part of 'Insane Celebrity' didn't you understand?” I grinned.

Matt just sighed and shook his head smiling with me.

As we pulled onto the service road that led to the executive airport, I turned to Matt.

“Don't forget to buckle up.”

He looked out the window at the waiting Airbus and grinned. “We're almost there.”

“Not for this ride.” I shot him a wicked smile, cocking my thumb at the plane. “For THAT ride.”

He seemed perplexed. I shook my head.

“I'm not being clear. Not the plane. The TOUR. Our last two outings got a bit... wild.” I understated.

He nodded slowly, recalling the tabloid coverage he claimed he didn't follow.

“Well, I'm only going as far as Hawaii. It's just your first stop. How much can happen in just one stop?” he shrugged.

I just looked him in the eye. I wasn't trying to send any subliminal messages or dire warnings or anything. I was just recalling our past trips. Fetal Eoin on live network TV in New York, and that incident on the Graham Norton show at the start of our Europe swing, when I tried to do the Father Ted 'this is small and that is far away' gag with the toy sheep and the flock of sheep we snuck into the back of the studio, before they got loose and suddenly weren't so far away. I knew how first days could be, and I was sure it showed on my face. Matt just swallowed and nodded.

“So this is how the other half lives.” Matt laughed as he walked over to my seat after his quick tour of our chartered plane.

“Don't get used to it dropout boy” I laughed. “Remember you were this close to spending today on a bus.” I held my hand up fingers close together.

He nodded. “Still, I could get used to this.”

I shook my head. “Can't let yourself. Soon enough you'll be back to the real world.”

He nodded. I looked him in the eye and held up one finger. “We both will.” I said quietly.

He stared at me and shook his head, whispering. “You've been doing this for HOW long? How on earth are you keeping grounded?”

I furrowed my brow a moment and gazed away, trying to put it into words.

“I try to live in the moment. To fully commit to each moment. But when I am alone, I'm just as focused on being ….ME.... and remembering that soon enough I will be back to....” I was about to say 'my old life' but I instantly knew that was not it. “...back IN.... the real world.” I said quietly.

Matt nodded mutely. This was getting uncomfortable. I tried to lighten things up.
“Ever been to Hawaii?” I asked.

Matt shook his head. “Never been much of anywhere. Calgary a couple times. ...Wyoming... Had an uncle in Larame we spent one Christmas with. Chicago once in high school. And L.A. for school.” he shrugged.

I shrugged too. “I've never been either. Until this Thornbirds tour, I hadn't been anyplace either.”

Matt smiled. I think he was realizing that we were more alike than he first thought.

“What I learned on the US and Europe tour is, just roll with it. Act like it's an everyday thing and save you personal 'Holy !!!' moments for alone time. Act like you belong and you'll belong. Sell it. Be it. Commit to it.”

He nodded. I suspected he was just going along, not really understanding. I decided to use that.

“You've GOT it!” I exclaimed. He shot me a perplexed glare. I just grinned. “I KNOW you don't get it, but you're faking getting it really, really well.”

It took a moment, but finally he did get it. I could tell by his smile.

“Moment by moment, hon.” I smiled. He returned my smile and nodded.

“So I should get my camera?”

“You're asking me? This is why you sucked as a paparazzo.” I laughed.

Matt was pestering the rest of the passengers while I huddled with Dennis.

“This really is a favor, isn't it?” He asked.

“Think of it as a mitzvah.” I shrugged.

“I didn't know you were Jewish Ms McGuinnes” he grinned.

I shrugged again. “Just channeling Katherine. ...you know....”

He raised an eyebrow. “I've never heard her use the word Mitzvah.”

“You know what a Mitzvah is?”

Dennis nodded.

“You've never seen Katherine say it, but surely you've seen Katherine DO it.” I smiled.

Dennis held my gaze. I saw his eyes refocus as he recalled something ...or things. Then he was back to regarding me, and he gave me the warmest smile and a tiny nod.

“So. We have to dig up some work for Matt.” I got back to business.

Dennis shook his head. “No. We have to dig up some work for Katherine. She can play the bitchy starlet card and insist on her own photographer.”

I nodded sullenly. Yeah, Katherine was in demand. It was up to me to drag Matt along on 'my' gigs.

Dennis gazed off into thin air, obviously thinking things over. Slowly, a grin came over his face.

“I have an idea. A few actually. I have to work the phones and email for a while. With luck, we'll have some things firmed up by the time we touch down in Hawaii.” His eyes sparked.

Matt wasn't the only new face on the first leg of our trip. As we all assembled for the flight and exchanged greetings and welcome back hugs, Colleen McGlagan introduced her new Personal Assistant Nancy. Nancy Berube wasn't a professional personal assistant, she was actually Colleen's favorite niece. Nancy was taking a break from her grad studies at McGill to help Colleen as a personal favor.

Colleen admitted to me in a private conversation that the family had become worried that Nancy was beginning to burn out, studying all the time, seemingly not sleeping, since she would text and email at all hours of the day or night, and had pretty much cut out all non-academic events from her life. She was behaving more and more erratically, and the family had staged an intervention of sorts, claiming bureaucratic problems had prevented the school from being paid for her next semester, and requiring her to take some time off while the issues were resolved. Both her school counselors and immediate family believed this ruse was the only way to force her to restore balance in her life. Upon hearing of this, Aunt Colleen volunteered that a trip to Hawaii might be just thing.

So we had another new addition to our crew. A quiet, mousey girl, who I would soon learn, could easily out-Katherine Katherine.

I had little clue on the early introductions. I brought Matt around and reminded our Hollywood Bowl crew that he was one of the staff photogs, and he was coming along as my personal lensman. Once they were reminded of his Bowl work and Eoin gushed about his work at the BlueBalls guerrilla shoot, no one had any objection to him roaming around and grabbing candid shots. Except Nancy. Matt assured her that he respected her privacy and would keep her out of every shot. She shot him a distrustful stare, but everyone assured her that he was on our side, and had proved that repeatedly in the past. I'm sure she still didn't trust him, but she didn't want to buck the wave of acceptance and access absolutely everyone else gave to Matt – especially at her first introduction to everyone, so she pulled her lips into a pencil thin slit and nodded acquiescently.

Matt sat with us on the flight over. Dennis channeled his inner Charlie Rose and got Matt to talk about his upbringing in Montana, his family life, what brought him to LA and his plans for life. I recalled that Matt planned to be a psychologist, and hoped he was taking mental notes, because Dennis managed to extract an extraordinary amount of info from what seemed a genial conversation, without ever seeming nosy or intrusive. I always knew that Dennis was really easy to talk to, but I had never grasped the power of that talent until I watched him 'interview' Matt.

At some point Mikey got bored and turned the conversation to his adventures. Actually, our adventures – Katherine and 'her boys', galavanting around the world and getting into crazy mischief. Dennis politely backed off and Matt seemed genuinely interested. Mikey really is a gifted story teller, a talent that will no-doubt serve him well in a life filled with elevator pitches and social networking.

A few hours into the flight, Matt climbed into his crutches and excused himself to 'meet and greet' our other passengers. We weren't alone long. After about five minutes, a timid face began peering from behind the seatback.

Dennis saw her first and smiled warmly. “Hi! ….Nancy isn't it?”
Mute nod.

Dennis patted Matt's empty seat. “Come on girl, sit down and join us.” I could not shake the expression that he was trying to feed a peanut to a wary squirrel. He moved very slowly, seeming to take great pains to make no moves that would scare her off. His voice was soothing and inviting. I know he caught my subtle smile watching this stunning display of his skill. I thought to myself that Dennis could not just be a psychologist, he could also probably work well with feral animals and would-be ledge jumpers.

Wary is inadequate to describe Nancy's demeanor. I could see in her eyes that she was far from her comfort zone. I think Dennis sensed it too. But we both realized, and Dennis somehow managed to convey, that in this whole unfamiliar scary scenario aboard the plane, that somehow the seat he was gently patting was perhaps the least threatening place.

It worked. She gingerly sat, eyes darting from Dennis to Mikey to me. As if waiting for someone to lunge, her arms and legs seemingly poised to flee. Dennis and I made no sudden moves. Mikey utterly ignored her, poking at his iPad. Eventually she settled in and her guard dwindled ever so slowly, like a boiling cup of tea slowly going tepid.

“So girl, Nancy is it?” Dennis smiled. “Welcome to the tour. Tell us about yourself.”

Nancy squirmed, cast her eyes down. “Nothing to tell really.” she mumbled.

“Nonsense.” Dennis replied genially. “Everyone has a story. Let's hear yours. How did you find yourself on a plane headed to Hawaii with this bunch of misfits?”

A smile sneaked onto her face before she damped it back to her dour demeanor. I saw her eyes do something when Dennis said 'misfits'. And thought that might be a key to this tightly wrapped girl.

“School problems” she shrugged as if it were describing something unavoidable like an earthquake or being hit by lightning.

Dennis had already chatted with Colleen and knew more than he let on, but he played innocent.

“Oooh. Do tell! Sorority prank gone horribly wrong? Did they find you drunk and passed out in the dean's office wearing the school mascot costume?”

Nancy laughed despite herself and barked “Hardly!” Then she got back her depressed demeanor and returned her gaze to the floor. “Tuition problems.”

Dennis slapped her forearm gently. “Get OUT! How can that be. You people are LOADED!”

That got Nancy's attention as she stared at Dennis with bewilderment and was about to say something when he plowed on.

“....well, at least your famous AUNT is!...”

Nancy grinned, finally realizing Dennis' tease.

“So she couldn't pay to keep you in school, but she could pluck you away to be her personal minion as she jetsets around the world on her private plane?”

Nancy was actually laughing by now. “No. No... it wasn't like that at all. And it wasn't really about the money. It was there... but wires got crossed and paperwork got messed up and by the time it was sorted it was too late for the upcoming semester.... so I was at loose ends and moving back home, until Aunt Colleen suggested a more ….interesting.... way for me to spend my time off.” And her eyes locked on ME.

Dennis saw it too but didn't let on. “So, hon. What were you studying?”

“Postgrad psych. I'm determined to go all the way to my Doctorate, but I'm still working on my Masters, and I'm figuring out my focus. And I think I've found it. I'm fascinated by abnormal psych.”

All the while she was telling Dennis this, her eyes remained riveted on me. It was clear to me that she was not looking at me as a participant in this conversation, but more like an intriguing object she could not stop examining. It was also clear that she chose wisely becoming a psychologist, because she would make a terrible professional gambler or spy. I wondered if she had any idea how transparent she really was.

“Have you spoken with Matt?” I asked. Visibly startling her when I spoke. I imagined that to her it was as if one of her lab specimens suddenly decided to strike up a conversation.

“Huh? ...Who?”

I wasn't sure if she was simply startled or didn't know his name.

“Camera boy.” I said in Katherine's deadpan, inclining my head slightly in his general direction. “You two have a surprising amount in common” I said without inflection, while thinking to myself about the ways they were also so supremely different, but knowing that Matt would find her many obvious eccentricities fascinating, and may distract her enough to keep her off my ….Katherine's.... case.

She stared at me with disbelief. “In common? Hardly.”

I just gave her the long cold unblinking Katherine stare. It takes an excruciatingly long time, but it always works.

“Like what?” she finally asked, curiosity (and the need to say something after the long pause) finally overriding her doubt and scorn.

“You're the psych major.” I replied calmly. “Talk to him and find out for yourself.”

Nancy was visibly annoyed. But it was just as obvious she was intrigued at my challenge.

“We'll see about that!” she said with some heat and burst from her chair to go find Matt.

“Annnnnnnd..... she's gone.....” Dennis snorted. He glanced to me with a sly grin. “The trick to being a master puppeteer is subtlety and restraint. Girl, your strings are showing.”

“No.” I replied, trying to restrain my smile. “HERS are showing.... and they're not so much strings as ropes.”

“Well, just because they say 'jerk me' in big red letters doesn't mean you have to”

“Couldn't resist” I shrugged. “Didn't want to once she started talking about abnormal psychology and started eyeing me like a hungry dingo.”

“Oh, you caught that?” Dennis grinned.

“HELEN Keller would have caught that!” I muttered. Dennis choked back a laugh.

“Yeah. Good thing she's not planning on being a professional gambler.” he smiled.

“It's scary sometime how we think alike” I grinned. “Still, I hope she goes into research, because if she becomes a retail shrink, the patients will be analyzing her!”

I said it lightly, but something tickled in my mind and I wondered if her lack of guile and how easily Dennis and I distracted... okay... manipulated her... had anything to do with why her family pulled her out of school.

While it had been my hope, I never actually expected that Matt would successfully distract Nancy, but that's what actually happened. It was a great surprise and relief to everyone else on the plane.

I was trying to doze in my chair when Colleen slipped into the seat beside me.

“Am I disturbing you?” she whispered.

I shook my head and opened my eyes. “Not at all. I was just thinking.”

Her brow hiked and her mouth quirked. “Thinking? ...or scheming?”

I didn't rise to her tease. “You aren't disturbing me.”

She nodded her head in the direction of Matt and Nancy who were huddling a few metres away.

“That photographer of yours.....” she left the statement hanging. I simply nodded.
“Who is he? How well do you know him? What's his story?”

I thought for a moment. More for effect. I knew what Colleen was trying to get at in her own roundabout way, but I knew she would only be placated if we traversed her own oblique path. My pause made my eventual response seem the result of deep thought and reflection. Maybe I could take a few shortcuts in getting to what she really wanted to know.

“I think you heard about his work at the ….Blueballs Incident...”

Colleen nodded and blushed. I took great satisfaction that I wasn't the only one uncomfortable with the name.

“I had run into him before. Literally. I was on a run and he was in a group of paparazzi outside my hotel. I had a plan..”

“I'll bet you did!” Colleen blurted with a wicked grin, which immediately turned to embarrassment at interrupting, and she pursed her lips contritely, motioning for me to go on.

I continued unfazed “Well, the plan mostly worked... except for the flash there” I cocked my head toward Matt and caught Colleen's grin. I was feeling more comfortable wielding Katherine's deadpan humour and I thought I was doing it rather well.

“After a few miles of cat and mouse, it was clear neither of us was winning. He wasn't getting his photo and I wasn't shaking him off. So we called a truce and had a little detente over smoothies. That's where I learned he came to town on a track scholarship.”

Colleen snorted. I simply nodded in assent. “I know, right?” I looked off into space for a moment and I'm sure she thought I was deciding how to phrase what came next, but it was really just for effect and pacing.

“While the track scholarship was paying his way, his true purpose was to pursue a psychology degree.”

That had the effect I'd hoped. Colleen hadn't seen that coming and I now had her full attention.

“He had mentioned some people he had encountered growing up on the barren northern plains. I had no idea there were so many cults and militia compounds up there. People wanting to escape from the scrutiny of nosy neighbors. ….lotta cults....” I nodded, seemingly to myself. “Matt had seen the effect on the people and the families they dragged along. That's what got him into his interest in a psych major. I don't know whether he's going to be a PTSD counselor or a cult de-programmer, but that's his goal, and his passion. Getting broken people healed and back into the wider world.”

Colleen stared at me wide eyed.Then she stared off in the direction of Matt and Nancy.

“Her parents were at their wits end. She was always a diligent student and a good girl. ….maybe a little too good.... I don't think that girl ever let her hair down..... well, when she moved to school, she dove into her studies. She kept taking on more and more, and even extracurricular volunteer lab work. Her work wasn't really suffering, but her behaviour became more and more ….erratic. She would call home at 3 in the morning and start babbling to whoever answered about some epiphany she just had working in the lab. She seemed to be working for days without sleep, and her parents were getting concerned. They reached out to her professors, who assured them of her talent and work ethic. It came as quite a surprise to her teachers how many other oligations she had taken on that they were unaware of. That spawned a meeting of all her professors and lab supervisors who compared notes and finally realized what an unhealthy workload she had taken on. When they spoke with her parents, they agreed that an immediate intervention was critical.

My sister was distraught about the situation and figured that since I was in show business, I would know how to stage a successful intervention.”

I snorted. “Intervention is easy. Successful.... much trickier”

“You should know” she grinned. Then immediately looked mortified. I just shrugged it off.

“So, Nancy's mother calls you asking how to stage an intervention....” I tried to get her back on track.

Colleen nodded. We put our heads together and came up with the glitch with the burser. Her professors thought it was a good excuse. Seemingly no ones fault, just one of those things that will be worked out, but it will take time and force her to take a semester off. We weren't sure just coming home and cocooning in her old room would be enough of a break to snap her out of her obsessive behaviour, so I volunteered to take her with us as my personal assistant. We thought that extreme break from her old habits might snap her out of this.... alarming behaviour. She's never been much of a people person....” Colleen laughed reflexively. No doubt she was struck, as I was, at Nancy's choice of psychology, since she seemed to have little desire to interact with people.

“To say I was startled to see her spend time with your photographer.... especially since she has always been especially shy around young men her own age.... well, I just....” she seemed lost for words, but I could see relief in her eyes that finally Nancy was talking with someone.

“Maybe knowing a little about his background helps explain it.” I ventured.

Colleen nodded. “Jesus, Katherine. How the hell do you do it?”

I was genuinely perplexed and she read it on my face. Hers broke into a warm grin.

“When I saw birds at the premiere...” she whispered “...it was even more excruciating than I had imagined. I thought 'oh christ, we'll never get this stain off our CVs... and we're committed to go on the road and flog this albatross. I was really dreading that.”

I nodded. I remembered the premiere, which seemed so long ago. But I understood her distress.

“Then that dinner theater improv at the Sockolov's party ….that was improv? I never asked. You and Kirk never....”

I shook my head. “God NO! If he had any idea what we were about to do to his music he NEVER would have gone along with it!”

Colleen grinned broadly “THAT was when I began thinking we just might get through this with our careers intact. Still, I never imagined what was in store. And the soundtrack recording. That was your idea too?”

I shook my head. “Corporate's. They smelled unharvested money.”

She nodded. “And the Hollywood Bowl thing?”

I scowled. “Guilty. It seemed an easy way to take it to the next level. And I had ...a personal agenda....”

She smirked. “Bianca DeMedici” I nodded deferentially.

“That seemed to work out well for everyone involved.”

I shrugged.

“SO. My point is, all along, whenever you get your long bony fingers into things....” she paused until she was clear I knew she was teasing “things end up careening in unexpected directions.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but she stopped me with an upheld finger.

“...BUT always better, directions. Unimaginable directions. But always better than the way things would have gone without your ….meddling.” she grinned. “And now, you drag along the one person who seems to be able to reach my niece and maybe, maybe draw her out of her private little unhealthy world.”

“That's presuming an awful lot.” I protested.

“Maybe so. But I took her along because her family didn't know what else to do with her. And honestly, I didn't know what I was going to do with her on this trip. But that question is already sorting itself out.” She glanced in the direction of Nancy and Matt with a look that betrayed affection and relief.

“So, I just wanted to say Thank You. For everything. …..and to.... apologize.” her eyes fell to her lap. “....for all those things I said when they signed you to do the movie.”

“Why?” I replied in Katherine's deadpan. “They were all true.”

She blurted out a laugh and went bright crimson, squeezed my hand tightly and excused herself to rejoin Eoin, Cyril and Dez.

I was finally beginning to doze when I heard the loud PLOP in the seat beside me and raised an eyelid to see a grinning Matt Cutler.

“Oh my God. I thought I was through with school for a while, then you drag me onto a six hour flight with a subject who qualifies as a graduate study!”

Still acting half-awake, I replied “Well, she IS a graduate student, and you seem to be studying her quite intensely.” Matt snorted. I opened both eyes and turned to face him. “What are you doing here? I thought you two were inseparable.”

Matt grinned. “Coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. I thought the caffeine might calm her down – like Ritalin. And even if that didn't work, eventually her bladder would grant me a break.”

“You are a devious young man.” I said, head back and eyes again closed. I heard his laugh.

“Congratulations by the way. You seem to have found the secret combination. Her family and folks at her school have been trying to get her to open up for weeks and failing. They were really getting anxious because she was just becoming more closed and.....”

“Crazy?”

“Is that a term you learned in psych?”

He did not take my bait.

“Well, it's a term the lay person might understand, however inaccurate and stigmatizing.”

“Yet succinct?” I tried to remain expressionless and seemingly dozing, but Matt could hear the smile in my voice and I caught the grin in his.

“I would not dispute that hypothesis Dr Keller.”

“So, how did you manage to open Pandora's Mind?” I asked dryly.

Matt exploded in a single laugh that I'm sure drew the attention of the whole cabin. I was still feigning rest. Eyes closed, head back. I gave him a while, whether to compose his response or just wait for the attention of others to wander, I didn't know or care.

“You uh.... you have a way with words..... I had the hardest time getting her to even pretend to be civil. Since she was clearly not going to talk, I did. She seemed to be politely enduring listening to me, but I could tell she was starting to pay more attention. When I talked about school, and leaving school, I definitely had her attention. But she seemed really suspicious. She grilled me like an inquisitor and finding no holes in my story, conceded that it could be true. When I asked her how or why I would make it up, she hesitated then finally conceded that it seemed too close to her own story, and she was pretty certain that she was being manipulated by her parents or her aunt or even by some unseen cabal at her university. I understood, being a psych major long enough to know that often things aren't what they appear, but I also reminded her that trying to discern actual agendas could be an exercise in paranoia, especially if there actually was no hidden agenda, so the mind works extra hard trying to fit random things into some semblance of sinister order.”

“I think I finally out-psyched her.” He grinned. “She conceded that my situation bore too many parallels to hers to be coincidence. But since she couldn't figure out the how or why of this subterfuge, she would set it aside and take my story at face value. She finally opened up a bit and started talking about herself. I was struck as well at how many seemingly random things we had in common, and conceded that if the tables were turned, I would be suspicious too. This seemed to placate her, and she began to relax a bit. I'm just starting out on the psych track, but she's been doing this for half a dozen years. Some of the stories she was telling me about labs she had been involved with.... wow, they really messed with her. She learned a lot, but there was a lot of residual, permanent change. Her world view was shifting. The ways she knew they messed with her just made her wonder about the ways they were still messing with her that she hadn't yet twigged to. Between volunteering to be a serial test subject for extra credit, and her studies of genuinely abnormal subjects for other lab projects, combined with a startling empathic streak that she seems unable to switch off, she was getting far far too wrapped up in the world of abnormal psyches and losing touch with reality. Or as she put it the 'so called normal' world. She was diving deep and saw the only way out as diving deeper instead of backing out. She was on a bad, bad path..... which has been put on hold by this trip. But her goal is still deeper down the rabbit hole.”

“So how are you going to coax our Alice out of the rabbit hole?” I smiled.

“Still working on that. But I think we've identified the issue, and that's a critical start.”

“So you said you were going to school so that someday you could help trauma victims, cult members and the like....”

Matt blew out some air. I still had my eyes closed but could hear the humour in his voice.

“Yeah. That was always the goal, but I thought I'd finish my studies first.....”

“Life doesn't really give a damn about your plans or agenda. No one know that better than me.”

He laughed and placed his hand over mine. “I guess I better just play it by ear.”

“Always worked for me.” I said quietly. “All you really can do anyway.”

“I hear that.” He pressed his hand over mine. “Thanks for the pep talk... and wish me luck.”

“Already have it. ….or you'd be on a bus in North Dakota right now.”

He laughed as he slid out of the seat. “Pleasant dreams Katherine.” he said as he slipped down the aisle.

Dreams were never my goal. I was wracking my brain trying to find projects to get Katherine – and her photographer – some outside work.