and observing/monitoring technical competence in obtaining audiometric measurements, technical assistance as needed, and limited quality assurance. The NHANES scientific goals are to establish a statistically accurate, demographically representative baseline on the general health (including Hearing Health) of the U.S. population. NHANES is now a continuous survey and while general health issues are always under investigation such as height, weight and blood pressure, there are also elements that track individual health outcomes that move in and out of the NHANES as it cycles. NHANES consists of two major components: the household interview and the physical examination in the NHANES Mobile Examination Centers (MECs) that are set up in various areas around the country. The data from the NHANES elements are collected, weighted, and made available to the government andinterest here? She wasn't certain. She could almost see it, but then her thin logic was broken by the sound of a new voice.

"Madam."

A young man was filling up the restaurant's front door. Behind him, in the late-evening gloom, perhaps a dozen others stood in a loose tangle. All were young, but not all were human. At least two Janusian couples stood near the front, and a giant harum-scarum stuck up in back.

To all of them, she said, "Hello."

"Madam," the young man said again. Then he stepped closer, a hint of nervousness betrayed in the quick rolling of his thick fingers. "Do you remember me?"

Security systems went on silent alert.

The face might be familiar, or might not, and there could be something memorable in the broad build of