"I'll do whatever the fuck I want." Her hopes dash away in a moment. I return them just as quickly. "Which, right now, means telling you, yes."Looking...up, she can see a metal cable hanging from the ceiling. Tracing the line with her eyes, she sees it attached to a mechanical spool against the wall near the door. Gingerly, she raises her arms.Quietly,"Please handcuff my arms above my head daddy?" I wait a moment. "Please daddy? Please?"I walk over and flip the arm on the spools control panel,. ’ ‘Cock-ups – that is an unusually frank word for a woman to use.’ ‘Perhaps,’ I said. ‘I find it terrible difficult to use the phrase I make mistakes – that reluctance is ingrained in us by our mothers.’ He shuffled his feet. ‘Look, have you any idea of the real meaning of cock up?’ ‘Vaguely. Let me know if you’re interested.’ Gregory Pugh turned the color of puce and raced back for the safety of his desk which faced us. We sat very close in three rows of three so the typing around me had. Memorized it. Intimacy is deep affection like with kissing, hugging, romance, or sexual intercourse. I don’t kiss boys so therefore, I don’t romance them either. Never penetrated him so wasn’t intercourse. Hugging don’t count ‘cuz we’re priests. We hug everyone. And if it did count, you’d be as guilty as me.”“What?”“You hold cocksuckers’ heads, don’t ya? Well, I was holding him, not hugging him. So no, wasn’t an ounce of intimacy. And remember, it’s our job to help them boys so they don’t go. As he lay there, his mind drifted...Alex could not remember a hotter day at Hidden Valley. He took off his black Stetson and wiped the sweat band. A ragged, crusty line of white salt circled the crown about midway up. While some complained about the heat, he relished the sweat that it brought to the surface, especially when it was due to hard work. He wasn't the only one working hard, but even the Phoenicians, trained in desert survival and tough as nails, found it difficult to keep pace with.