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shopping…”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Ten
     
     
     
     
    Stefan has found a great new Tapas restaurant in the Docklands. This is our group at its best. When there’s food on the table and everyone can eat without wishing they’d ordered what someone else was having.
     
    We are meeting Glen for dinner before his first day tomorrow. Adrian wanted to meet him too, so we invited him along.
    On the ride up, Poppy and I had talked about whether we should tell Glen the truth about us. We know that we all hit it off and he and Stefan have already become good friends. But is he ready to learn the truth about us so soon? There are people with pure Beings that know about the ‘Gifted’, but we’ve never introduced one to our group as Glen is the first one we’ve all met together.
    We hadn’t reached a decision by the time we got to the restaurant.
     
    With chorizo, peppers, meatballs, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms, croquettes and suckling pig covering the table Adrian raises his glass. “Here’s to Glen and what promises to be a very exciting and rewarding career.”
    “Cheers!”
    Glen blushed slightly, “Thank you so much everyone, and here’s to me being lucky enough to meet you all so that I have someone to celebrate with.”
    I can see Poppy measuring him up for new glasses so I kick her under the table.
    But more curious is watching Stefan looking at Poppy measuring Glen up. He looks like a puppy that’s not being played with.
    There are a few minutes of us tucking in to the fabulous food before Glen strikes up polite conversation. “So Adrian , what exactly is it that you do?” he asks.
    We all look up expectantly.
    “I mentor people.” Is the matter of fact response.
    “Mentor people in what? And how do you know this lot? They don’t seem like the type to need guidance and aren’t Stefan and Annabel a little old for mentoring?”
    Wow. What was that? Twenty questions? Is he prying?
    “Mmm hmm.” It’s a pretty clever response. If in doubt put suckling pig in your mouth. Adrian ’s nodding in the way people do with a mouth full of food. It’s a hang-on-a-minute-while-I-eat play for time.
    “So tell us again what it is exactly you do, Glen.” Annabel asks.
    That’s my girl. Turn the conversation around.
    “Well I don’t know how much you know about Avian flu,” He starts. Look at us please. How much do you really think? “Well it’s basically an infection caused by bird flu viruses. It’s very contagious among birds and can make some domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks and turkeys very sick and kill them. To try and be brief, there are strains that can affect humans. The first reported cases were back in 1997 and came from people in close contact with the secretions and excretions of contaminated birds.”
    “Buddy, I’m eating here.” Robbie’s not afraid to speak with his mouth full.
    “Sorry!” Glen smiles. And there are those dimples. “What I’m trying to do is find a vaccine. Unfortunately flu viruses can become resistant to drugs and with ever changing strains it is a constant battle to keep up. Between Swine flu, Avian flu, your regular seasonal flu, even going back to Spanish flu in the earlier parts of the twentieth century, millions die every year. People think there are more pressing cures needed to be found but I really believe there’s an epidemic smouldering right underneath us.”
    “Well that’s just chipper isn’t it.” Poppy says as she eats another cherry tomato.
    “Sorry, it’s a bit heavy I know.” He’s smiles shyly. Dimples again. “This job is perfect for me. I can now continue my research in a well funded lab. Who knows? I might be the scientist who finds a cure one day!”
    His optimism is contagious and his Being flares when he’s excited. I wonder how much of it wears off to other people without us being there to help.
    He directs the questions back to Adrian . “You were saying about the