Richard and Anne got up and hugged their new friend—who, it transpired, was even more of a friend of their even older new friend, General May. It took hours before either of them drifted off to sleep thinking that of all the things that could wreck the Congress it might be something rather nasty. And deadly. Lessening their concern only slightly was the report that Clark, via Penny, via Don, had promptly reassigned the apparently disgruntled members of Don’s own bomb-squad to psychiatric evaluation.
In fact, not until mid-May were the suites fully occupied. May 1st had been the date but some families decided it was impossible to live without windows. Richard suggested half-seriously that window frames be installed in the walls over pictures of scenery. Anne and Penny laughed at that, but within days, as the idea floated among the members, a bunch approached the carpentry shop and ordered window frames with photographs of the countryside. The well-being of the members was paramount, especially, Anne feared, when they would be inspected, even grilled by the invitees to the Congress, some of whom she was sure hoped the whole exercise would fail from the first Article.