”That was typical of mom. She was so worried about not having time to get everything in order but she didn’t want anyone else to help either. I gu...ss she just wanted to have full control of everything.“Tell you what,” she said. “i’ll give you a call from work if I think of anything. Ok?”“Fine with me,” I replied.With that, mom gave me a hug and left the house. As I heard her car leave the driveway I sat down at the kitchen table to finish my breakfast. There I was, all alone in the house having. Later they lay together enjoying the blissful afterglow of love."How did you ever get so good at making love?" Susan asked."I invented it, silly." Alice replied, dreamily."Seriously?" Susan asked."Yes, seriously. Before me, there was just mating. I mean it was pleasant, but it was over with much too quickly. Women never had orgasms. Then one day I was playing with time. I slowed it down for the man who was mating with me. To him it was just as fast, but to me it took much longer. I had the. At the table, dinner was a quiet affair this evening. Teresa had prepared meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans and there was cornbread of course. Normally Addy would be happily chattering on about this book or that story that she’d been reading. But this evening, her first time sitting down at the table since being attacked, she was subdued. She picked at her food and ate very little. Tom saw all this of course, as did Richard and Teresa. They tried to act normal and make Addy feel at. "You and she together, what you do on Thursday afternoons — well, it must mean something to her." And as I spoke, although I had meant the words in reassurance, I realised that they were true. My Mother had had that collar since new, since it was fifteen itself perhaps ten years ago, and although she never spoke kindly about the thing, in a rare flash of insight I could see that she always looked after its interests. She would not part from it lightly. Perhaps collar loyalty went both ways."I.