Sitting down at the Prescott family table, Noah and his wife Laura look over the different options before them as they plan to purchase their first house.

"Man, there are a lot of options.  My mom always said that you should go with fixed rate mortgages so that you are never locked into a specific rate," Laura started.

"And yet it all really depends on how long we plan to be in this house.  If it’s less than five years, even one of the other mortgages– like an adjustable rate mortgage– would be fine," Noah added.

"Yeah, but with the current market, can we be sure that we’ll be able to sell our house for a profit before the rates change.  I mean, there are many cheap mortgages out there, but you get into real trouble if the rate or payment changes and you can’t make those payments."

"Dave Ramsey says that you should pay cash for a house, but if you really need to get a mortgage than you should go for a 15% fixed."

"But that’s like $200 more a month!"

"Yes, but it also gets paid off much sooner.  You can’t imagine what it is like to have the income that you’ve been putting toward your house to spend or invest.  And just think of the amount you’ll be saving on interest."

"I can’t argue with you there," Noah concluded.  "I guess I’ll do some web surfing tomorrow and see if I can find a good mortgage company."  Just then the telephone rings.

"Hello?"  Laura answers.  "It’s Adam.  He needs you to come down to the office as soon as you can."

"I wonder what he wants now," Noah said in a huff.  Picking up his jacket he kissed his new wife and headed out the door.

“Yes, come get her, out there.”  He pointed to an island. With that, I received an additional blow to the head. I was knocked unconscious. The next thing I felt was water upon my feet. The tide was coming in. I got up, and a bikini clad woman walked by me.

“Excuse me, miss.”  She slapped me across the face.

“JOHN!”  She called.

I walked toward the life guard. “Sir, could I borrow a boat to sail to the island?”

“Sure, have you any experience in boating?”

“Very little, but this is important.”

“Okay, take my boat.”  After figuring out how to row the boat, I approached the island. The man jumped out from behind a tree. I punched him in the face, and he was dead. Walking in more, I found Tricia dangling from a cage above a pool of alligators. I pulled the wire, and she was free.

“This is too easy.”

“Huh?”

“The thug is dead, and I hardly bruised him.”

“This is strange. Let’s go back to shore.”  We went back, then went home. The next day was church. Nothing eventful happened.

“Why don’t we trade apartments.”

“That’s a good idea.” I helped her move some of her stuff up to my room. It was like deja vu. It happened just like it did before.

“Why don’t we go to Noah’s house, he’s got two bedrooms, right?” I asked.

“Yes he does.” So we packed up and moved over there. The next day went along fine, the identity of the hit men was a mystery. The police could find no matches. We still stayed in Noah’s house, and we got up the next morning.

“Are you sure you still want to go to the beach today?”

“Why?”

“Well, with what happened Thursday, I would think that you wouldn’t want to be out in public.”

“No, I don’t mind. Do you think I should wear this one, or this one.” She said, showing me two different bathing suits.

“I don’t know! You decide.”

“Well, what are you going to wear?”

“Me, who said anything about me going into the water?!”

“You aren’t?”

“Not if I can help it!”

“Then I don’t want to go.” She said.

“Oh, all right, what a softie I’m turning out to be.” We loaded an umbrella, blankets, towels, lawn-chairs, and sun-tan lotion into my car. Tricia was dressed in a tee-shirt and shorts with her bathing suit underneath, I think. I was dressed in a three button short-sleeved shirt and shorts. We left for the beach, and on our trip, suddenly, everything seemed to go blank, all I could see was the car, the sky and the road. It was only for a moment. Soon we were at the beach. Tricia went to change, while I set up the umbrella, lawn-chairs, and blankets She came back in a pink, one piece, bathing suit.

“I’m ready to go into the water.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

“Aren’t you coming.”

“Not right now, I want to work on my tan.”

“Yeah, right. I’ll be back.” She went into the water where she was swimming fine. I leaned back in my chair, and fell asleep. The next thing I felt, was me getting wet.

“HEY, who’s the wise guy?”

“It’s me, you said you would be coming!” Just then, a tall red haired man came and grabbed Tricia by the arm.

“Come on beautiful, this loser don’t deserve you.” He said.

“Let me go!!” Tricia screamed. She was struggling. I got up, nonchalantly, and approached him.

“Did I hear the young lady right? Did she say, ‘Let me go’?” I asked.

“Yes, she did.” He responded.

“All right, if you don’t let her go, I’ll have to use force on you, you big, mean, ugly gorilla.” I punched him in the stomach. My hand was now throbbing. I hit him on each side of his neck. Adjusting his shirt I said, “I hope I wasn’t out of line with that comment about you being a big, mean, ugly gorilla.” I received a blow to the head.

“Look at this wimp, think’s he’s a man, do he. He’ll have to come get his girl.”

“Come, get her?” I said in a daze.