At about three thirty in the afternoon , one of the night shift techs called in sick ; last minute. The manager came to me, just before I was ready t... leave, and asked if I could come back at midnight , to cover the night shift.... "please ! ... Take the day off tomorrow," he said. "Stu will be here with you. " With some reservation, I said, "OK. You know, I won't be of much help, if I have to do portables," I said.So , I went home, had dinner, a nap, watched the evening news and returned. Cathy acted as if the experience of feeling those elastic ropes pull on her nipples couldn't come soon enough. She seemed willing to start straight away, without saying a word about what happened at the shopping center.But Helen wouldn't be Helen if she hadn't noticed the disappointment and distress on our faces as we returned, much earlier than expected. Besides, we had returned empty-handed. Cathy hadn't made any move to show Helen proudly what beautiful present I had bought her - which would. "What do you mean?"She smiled sadly for a moment. "I was convinced it was me, you know? Everything that went wrong, it was my fault, so he'd hit me. Anything out of place, anything that didn't go as planned, it was all because of me, so he'd toss me around a little bit. I figured I deserved getting beat up."I reached my hand to her face, stroking her cheeks."Never your fault," I whispered into her ear. "You're sweet and gentle and kind and loving and beautiful. He's the asshole."Shelly released. Each footfall, warmer or colder, took forever. Was the hiding place she’d chosen too concealed? Would he give up and just walk away? The footsteps drew nearer, and suddenly it was him, very much so, all of him, right there, and she involuntarily stepped back toward the chain link fence. Even knowing him already from before, even having breathed him in already on that night, her head still swirled with an instant of something like terror to know that he had her alone.She was beautiful, as.