I arrived at my apartment about 3:00 PM on a Friday when it all went to hell in a handbasket. Sally had told me she was not happy, and that she wanted...to talk when I got back from Chicago. She wasn’t there when I did get back. No note, no call, no text message, just gone. The engagement ring I was carrying in my pocket suddenly felt like an anchor.I went to the bedroom, and all the drawers that she kept her stuff in were open and empty. She even took the tee shirts of mine that she had. . I can, you know?" He gestured toward the lovely sleeping beauty."Touch her, you mean, Jack?" Dr. Greeley said with a little smile. "I don't see why not, but perhaps you'd better ask her father first." His eyes sparkled, and his smile turned into a grin."What the... !?!" Jack gasped in astonishment and shock when Bill Brand stepped from the shadows."Please, Mr. Merrick, don't be upset by my presence," the father of the young girl spoke in a hushed voice as he moved to the opposite side of exam. He was stripped tothe waist, Kris, and... dancing."The darkness is a living presence that surrounds us and touches our faceswith warm fingers. The taumra'a is harsh, insistent."It seems we have two choices," I say after a long silence. "Either to besecluded in private, or to become public property."And then the dam is broken. Andy is upon my shoulder, his tears coming infloods."We are property. She owns us, Kris. Meta'en owns us. There's no escape isthere? There's no escape." No," I echo him. Mera dost wahi khada ho gaya aur meri mummy ko dekhne laga.Main dekh raha tha Abhishek pure nashe mein tha. Usko ye ehsas tak nahi tha ki main us ghar mein enter kar chuka hu. Maine bed pe dekha meri mummy pet ke bal leti hu thi. Mere dost ne apni aankhe meri mummy ki gaand pe tika di.Mujhe aisa lag raha tha ki mera dost apne shakti shali hato se meri mummy ki skirt na fad de. Woh halka aage badha aur bed pe baith ke meri mummy ke gaand ko dekhne laga. Achanak usne apna baya hath skirt ke upar.