Speaker 1: Marley lived in the city, not right in the middle
where the tall buildings were, but further out where most
of the houses had gardens, and that was fine with Marley.
She didn't want to live too close to the city center.
There was always some sort of superhero incident taking place there,
like when the mad Master of Crime the Laughing Hyena
filled the Opera house with frozen yogurt, or when Robotosaurus
tried to steal all the gold from the bank. That
sort of thing didn't tend to bother the folk that
lived this far out. It was a much quieter life.
That's not to say that there wasn't noise. Lying in
her bed at night, Marlee could often hear the sounds
of traffic, barking dogs, blasts of music, and occasional shouts
and laughter. Tonight was a warm one, so Marley had
her window cranked open slightly for some fresh air on
to sleep quickly. But something had disturbed her during the night,
and she now found herself wide awake and staring at
the ceiling. It must have been late because she couldn't
hear any cars at all, just the sound of her
garden swing moving back and forwards in the wind. Which
was odd. She'd seen the weather prediction on the TV
the evening before, and it had said it was going
to be a warm, still night, no wind. It was
why she'd opened her window. Getting to her knees, she
pulled the curtain aside and squinted out into the darkness.
There was somebody on her swing. Marley watched for a moment.
The figure was making a soft sniffling sound, and, although
it was hard to see properly in the dark, appeared
to wipe their sleeve across their eyes, as if they
were upset. If this was right, Marley couldn't stand by
and do nothing. She made the decision to go outside.
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Speaker 1: See you there,