Day 14

Walking into Martha's house, I could see tension falling away from Zim. Some familiar faces and family may be all that's needed.

We opened a box of wine, cuz we're classy like that, and sat around playing board games and gossiping. Martha's daughter, Zim's cousin Allison, is an excellent cook and made us these strange but wonderful cucumber-wrapped snacks. Sliced the cucumber really thin, pickled it just long enough to become flexible, and then wrap the slices like tortillas around fish, cheese, veggies, nearly anything. Man, I can't wait to have my own kitchen again.

His family seems to approve of me. At one point Martha pulled me aside and told me to take care of him. That maybe he'd finally found the girl for the job. I wasn't sure if she knew what I knew - that it might be turning into a bigger job than expected. I'm sure I'm just being paranoid.

At any rate, I think time with Zim's family was just what I needed, if not what Zim needed. We get to sleep in real beds tonight, not doctor's chairs or hotel beds with razor thin pillows. And no official check-out time tomorrow, either.

Ah, well, time for bed.