Mercy had opened the door for them, apparently, and she showed them into the front parlor."I'm Detective Barnes. Detective Hearst," the man said, nodd...ng towards the woman next to him."Is this the girl? Let me see your arm," the woman said, and they didn't waste any time.She scanned my slave tattoo first thing, just making sure of who I was. The small, hand-held computer thing pulled the information up that had been filed when Mr. Reiser had bought me. Her partner reached inside his jacket for. " The record stopped playing, and I saw Kate and Bill walking back over to our table again. I got up, pulling my hand away from Clara's. Kate saw where my hand had been though, and she immediately got the wrong idea."What have you two been up to while I was off dancing? Kate had almost a leer in her voice when she said that. Bill was standing right behind her, his hand placed casually on her shoulder. One minute before listening to Clara, I wouldn't have noticed where Bill had his hand. Now, I. 'nothing...err....i mean i work in a factory. Western.....' she cut me off. ' how much do you get? ' my dad replied with a figure doubled my real wage.'oh. and do you like living here? what did they mean by that? where else was i to live? in their posh bungalows? 'ye...eah. its nice and calm round here. and people are nice.'' oh. i see. thank you' specksy sneered at me and the two walked off. i heard them laughing as they left. the gentle sway of their skirts almost drove ne nuts. i was. Mostly I really tried not to think about that. I mean, they're my parents, you know?"Oh yeah?" Michael grinned at me."What?" I laughed at him, forgetting the girl. "You have no idea what my mom is like." She's black, right?" Michael asked and I nodded."A hundred and ten percent," I agreed."She puts out," he said, like it was a fact that everyone knew."What?" I wondered if I shouldn't slap him then."Your mom, if she's really black? She fucks like a rabbit." Michael grinned at me."Yeah right!" I.