’ ‘Yes mother.’We stopped. “Finished with engines.” She said, and shut down the motor. We were perfectly still. The quiet slipped in like a ...hief in the night. We were both silent.“Tired?”“Yes, Mom.”“We’re only going to get a couple of hours.”“What happens then?”“The sawmill starts at 7AM. The 6:30 whistle is unbelievable. I guarantee you’ll wake up.” She yawned. “You can hear the whistle half way to Ludington. Lake boats set their clocks by it.”“Why 6:30 if the mill starts at seven?”“If you’re. And don't watch too much TV," Rachel said."OK, mum. Don't you want me to come with you?" No need, dear. Now give me a hug!"It was already dark outside when Danni heard a car coming to a stop. He looked out the window, but could not see anything. A minute later the doorbell started to ring impatiently. He ran to open the door.Rachel was standing outside, smiling sheepishly at her son. She was leaning on a pair of aluminum crutches. Her casted left leg was hanging down, useless as never before.. I had thin black tights on and a pink cotton thong which was definitely visible through the tights. I was appauled, angry, I felt so used and degraded that someone who was supposed to be a professional working in my house was in fact just a dirty old man who liked creeping on young 17 year old girls. 5 minutes later after calming down I went to the bathroom to pee. As I was sitting on the toilet I noticed a black cardigan hanging out the top of the laundry basket. I cleaned myself up and. And then started laughing at the expression on my face. I was flustered as I had said that flippantly. Her laugh alerted me to the fact that she had answered as flippantly as I had made the comment. So I laughed as well. Later I understood that it had introduced a topic that was probably on both our minds, a topic that needed some serious consideration.We took the bottle of Chardonnay and the coffee into the lounge, where the fire cradle was heaped with logs that crackled and spat as they.