The trees ran to tamaracks so grubby and hard to get to that even the pulp cutters had bypassed them.In another two or three weeks, the mosquitos woul... be so thick that they could drain a person quicker than a battalion of nurses at a Red Cross blood bank. Only an aggressive mosquito control program started decades before kept the town relatively free of the little vampires.Thinking ahead a few weeks, Pam Appleton wondered if the idea of spending the summer in the swamps south of town looking. The belt that fastened around her waist also had the same locking buckle that her cuffs had. This, again, could not be unlocked until after her ordeal. At the back of the belt was a large ring, to which her hands would be locked in a short time. The key to that lock, was currently somewhere inside the box on the table.She had placed the lock where she could find it after the hood went on.The hood. It sat there on the table as if daring her to back out. She still could, and it was as if the hood. "What's that for?" she pointed to the high stool I had carried up from the kitchen.I didn't answer right away because I was taken aback by the dress Mom had picked. It was a navy blue dress very similar to the one Grandma had been wearing in the very first picture I had seen. Had her subconscious been active when she chose that dress?"Uh, Grandma was sitting on a stool," I explained."Oh yeah. I remember." Mom plunked herself on the stool as soon as I set it down in the middle of her room. "Snap. ‘Am I cursed?’ I started wondering, ‘Or blessed?’ The front door opened with a jangle of keys and Christie entered, sopping wet from her run. She wore form fitting biker’s pants and a leotard top. She was thin and trim, taught, muscled and fit. ‘Hi.’ she said, startled to see me, looking around for Julie. ‘She’s out.’ I said. ‘Went for juice, and bagels. You just missed her.’ ‘Oh.’ she said. ‘You guys do something together later?’ ‘Just kicking around.’ ‘Cool.’ she said, hesitating, wanting to.