Duncan had been so impatient to get connected with Genvieve. However, now that she was really there and had even invited him to a private channel, he was becoming more uneasy. This lag wasn't helping either. It seemed to take him forever to just see the channel window pop up even though he had typed /join #true_talk several times. At last he saw that he was in channel and there she was, but she wasn't responding to his greeting. He tried to do a /PING to see how lagged he was with Genvieve, but that hadn't come back either. "Damn!" he thought as he noticed that she had gotten knocked off of IRC. He sat there for what felt like ages, waiting for her to return, but no luck so far. With a 9 hour time difference, he wondered also if she would be back on as it must be close to 3:00 am there.

Finally he decided to leave that channel and just hang out for a while. Someone had shown him how to do an away message so he wrote:"/away be back in a bit after I rustle up some dinner." As he stared into his refrigerator without much enthusiasm, he heard a knock on the door. Marsha was there holding several Chinese carryout containers. "I took a chance as your line was busy, Duncan. Benny wanted to spend the night at a friend's house and I just couldn't face rearranging one more piece of furniture. Hope you haven't eaten yet." Duncan ushered her inside and assured her it was OK that she just popped in as long as she could handle his messy place.

He breathed a sigh of relief that he was NOT on channel with Genvieve at the time when Marsha showed up. He quickly closed everything down on the computer while Marsha was busy setting up dinner. He made a hurried sweep through the place, picking up stray socks and trash here and there while also making sure that the bathroom was at least usable.

"I am so glad you like Szechwan. I never could get Ben to even try it and so we could never really share dishes when we ate Chinese." Marsha commented after dinner, "In some ways you both are so alike, but in others, you are totally opposite."

"Is that good or bad?" queried Duncan, teasing a bit.

"Well I always thought the two of you together would make the IDEAL man" Marsha said candidly. "I am glad Ben was neater and more organized than you are," she chuckled making room for herself on the couch, "but I sure would have liked him to be more of an adventurer like you, Duncan." Duncan was surprised to hear Marsha speak even a bit negatively about Ben.

"I do seem to have missed out on the cleaning 'genes'," Duncan said with a smile, "but I always thought that you and Ben were an absolute perfect match as a couple. I never heard you say a cross word to each other in all the years you were together, Marsha."

"It might have been better if we had fought more, Duncan" Marsha said candidly. "Don't get me wrong, I loved your brother dearly, but we were so comfortable with each other. I just missed walking more on the wild side I guess; especially now that he is gone." Marsha looked like she was on the verge of tears when she spoke so Duncan lightened up the conversation a bit.

He went over to the CD player looking for a COWBOY JUNKIES CD that he wanted Marsha to hear. "Hmmm now where did I put that one," he mused half out loud, "Ahhh I think I listened to it last on the computer." He started playing the CD and Marsha commented a bit sarcastically "That 'other woman 'can sing, too, huh?! Ben would spend hours on that computer at night after Benny went to bed," Marsha said. "I used to hate it. I felt so lonely at times I could have just spit! Now that I have all this time on my hands at night, maybe now I should take you up on your offer to show me around on it."

Duncan thought for a minute about what to do. He checked his watch and mentally added 9 hours. He decided there would be no harm in showing Marsha what he knew of the Internet right now. He was fairly confident that Genvieve would be in bed as it was now just after 4 30 am her time.

"OK. Lesson #1," Duncan said cheerfully as he directed her to the computer chair and pulled up a chair beside her. "What nickname would you like to use Marsha?"

"I haven't any idea Duncan, what do you think," Marsha wondered. "Should I pick a silly one or a serious one? Oh I know, how does 'Marshmallow' sound? That is what people always called me because of my name. They also said I was a sweet as a marshmallow. HA! Little did they know me, eh?" Marsha grinned.

"OK, let's try that," said Duncan, but when he typed in the nickname, it wouldn't accept it. "I think it has to be shorter Marsha." Duncan said. "Why not just try a name that you always liked when you were a girl."

Marsha thought and thought. "How about 'Brandy,' try that one, OK? I always loved that name and in fact, asked my mom if I could change it at one time."

Duncan typed in "Brandy" and got a message that there was already someone using that nickname. "Oh this lesson #1 is very hard Duncan... what should I do?"

"Let me try something like 'Brandy' with a tail. How would 'Brandy-' work for you?" Duncan asked. "It seems to be working just fine."

"Well I finally get to be a 'Brandy' and without any of the legal fees and hassles," Marsha said with a smile. "Maybe this will be fun after all."

"I am certainly no expert on this Marsha" said Duncan, I have just been learning this bit by bit. Do you want to explore the 'World Wide Web' or would you like to get together with people in channels from all over the country and all over the world?"

"Gosh, I haven't a clue. Hmmmm let's see. What do you think will be more fun?" Marsha asked Duncan.

"Well they both are fun Marsha, it just depends on what you want to get out of it. If you are more into learning ABOUT things all over the world, then WWW might be the best. If you want to talk to other people from all over the world, then IRC would be the way to go." Duncan tried to explain.

"I suppose I am so lonesome right now, maybe the people place would be best," Marsha said, and then became concerned. "What should I say? How will I know they aren't creeps like in the news?"

Duncan was more concerned with Marsha finding out about Genvieve then he was about her getting connected with creeps. It was hard to be too reassuring. Duncan did a listing of all the channels possible. Staring at some of the channel names, they were both blushing cherry red.

"What have you gotten me into?!" Marsha chided, trying to keep a chuckle in her voice that really wasn't there. "Is *this* what kept Ben so busy? I don't think I can do this Duncan!"

Marsha left the computer and went to refill her water glass, mostly to buy some time to catch her breath. She felt a familiar pang of jealousy as she thought of Ben spending so much time away from her on this computer. "How could he have done this to me?" she almost sobbed to herself.

Duncan followed her into the kitchen and gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulders. "I am SURE Ben didn't go to channels like that Marsha. He was a good guy. You do have to keep a sense of humor with all this though," Duncan instructed her. "It seems like there are some good channels that might be fun. Still want to give it a try?"

Marsha nodded half-heartedly and sat back down at the computer. Duncan did most of the selecting and would suggest different channels he thought she might enjoy. He steered clear of #44plusfriends but chose some that might be just as friendly. Marsha settled on #40carats, one that Duncan had not even heard about. Armed with her "Brandy-" nick, they launched her IRC debut.

"Just type 'Hi" and see what happens," Duncan advised. He went on to explain what was happening and who was currently on channel. Right off the bat, "Brandy-" got a private message. Before he showed her how to read it, he warned that it might be someone making a pass at her and she could just close the window without saying anything. Luckily it wasn't and instead was a person welcoming her to channel.

Marsha, wired with excitement and nervous energy, seemed to also be having some fun. She had lots of questions, some that he had no idea about, but she also seemed to catch on pretty quickly. They stayed fairly quiet and mostly watched as fast paced chatter bounced around the channel.

Time seemed to buzz by as it always seemed to do when he was on the computer and Marsha showed no signs of tiring of this new adventure. People were asking her about herself and she was opening up a bit. She described herself as a "recent widow" and Duncan was caught off guard to actually see the phrase. On channel though, it seemed to give several people permission to share sympathetic messages on channel as well as privately. Several times Duncan noticed that Marsha had stopped laughing and tears were racing down her face, but she kept typing to these new acquaintances.

Duncan found himself getting tired as he was taking on more of the less interesting role of spectator. He started dozing a bit when Marsha's question jolted him back to reality. "Duncan, what does this mean when it says 'Genvieve is on IRC?' Am I supposed to do something?"