Well, that was neither here nor there. It was now late enough that they had to spend the night here. Billy took care of the animals, and there were a ...ot of them. He used the rope corral that was already in place, so he was quickly finished with his share of the chores. The women started preparing supper while Billy took a lantern and explored some of the cave.This cave was not as extensive as the one he had claimed on the other side of the river. There was one passage leading away from the. He helped clean out the extra room that you’ll be using, so you should thank him.”Wendy walked right up to Joshua before speaking. “Thank you,” her voice was robotic and low.“No problem,” he was feeling much more relaxed and it was showing. “I’ll show you which room is yours.” He turned and bounded up the stairs excitedly.Wendy did not follow him and instead turned back to her mother. “Oh my god, you said he was a k*d!” she whispered.“He is,” Stacy responded with a shrug.“He’s an adult. I’ve. “So is that a yes?” “What do you think?” He gave me a truly beaming smile with his reply. “I‘ll be doing a bit of DJ stuff tonight, so who knows?”We started to chat about the news that was playing away in the corner of the room on the large television screen . Franco never took his eyes off me as we spoke, he was giving my look and outfit a full appraisal before passing his judgement. “Paula, you look great. The guys who come here will love you,” Franco said after one final top to toe look at. " "Can I be Sophia at other times?" When I'm sure your father won't be around or until I can convince him." Can I help convince daddy?" Maybe, I don't know. I do have an idea, though. I'll get you girl'sclothes that look like boy clothes. When you're at home you can wearthem." Oh! Thank you, mom." I hugged her tight.The next morning mom got me up for school. I had breakfast before runningout the door to walk to school. I stopped running when I caught up toBeth, Judy, and Sally. We talked.