I asked her, "Stepmother, this whole progress toward successfund grading system, can we just overlook that and you pretend I'm doingwell and give me a...grade of A every year?" She made a grumpy face andshook her head and said, "Why would I do that? Your father wanted you toearn your money, I'm afraid play time is over."I walked away from her words with hard reality setting in. I suddenlybecame aware that I was still calling her "Stepmother" and that I couldregain some pride if I went back to. The stranger slid down next to her, long limbs graceful in a way she had only seen with Sam. Tammy sighed."Tiring day." We were up at midnight," Heather said, body now feeling the ache as if mention of it removed her ability to ignore it. "The squirrels woke us." Yes, they do that."There was a resigned sense of humor when these people talked about the creatures. Heather didn't know what to make of it. She pounded the ground between them."We shouldn't have come here." You're looking for her. .I can't talk about girl shit with him," I shrug."'Girl shit'!?" Nikki says with a giggle. "Char-ming!" What?" I shrug. "Boys are great for some things, but for others... Youjust have more fun with girls sometimes, you know?" Girls CAN be good for both things, of course!" Sarah says, playingwrapping her arms around her fianc?e."Not saying that they can't," I reply."And in fairness, it's not like cuddles here didn't skip out on herfella entirely," Katie says as she wraps her arms around a. When they visited, we tried to ensure that they had some private time together which they were unable to get at Mandy’s house. Sometimes we left them alone in the house whilst Sylvie and I went out for a while. When it was Mandy’s sixteenth birthday we had a little party for her and her boyfriend. It was about a month later that Sylvie said that she needed a favour from me. It was a little delicate, she said. Apparently Mandy had asked Sylvie if she could get pregnant from ‘heavy petting’..