A true, albeit strange, story:

Last night I was sitting here at Pat's PC, trying to figure out what was wrong, when the phone rang.

It was my nephew, Joe, who's in the Marines. The telephone in his room in the barracks (!) had just been hooked up and he called me. Not his parents, me, his uncle in Idaho.

Now, this wouldn't be too strange in itself (he fights with his father all the time), except that

Joe is stationed at MCAS Iwakuni, about 25 miles from Hiroshima, Japan.

We talked, on his nickel, for about a half hour. I have the phone numbers to both his cell phone and his room, should I want to call him. I also have his address.

He's about the age of SRS's daughter...hmmmm....