She randomly selected a pair that happened to be shiny blackand tossed them toward him. "Here put these on."As he had done before with the sports bra...he let the flimsy garmentstrike him in the torso and fall to the ground. "I..." Mark's voiceshook a bit. "I can't."Aunt Tracy turned from the chest of drawers holding a pair of blackleggings she had taken from another drawer. "This is getting tiresome.You don't have to like it, you just have to do it. You're frightenedeyes and shaking hands. This led me to wonder just how long he had been under attack.“You stay here, Al. I’m transferring home to get something for all of us to eat,” I told him, on returning from the pantry, but before vanishing.I was back a few minutes later with the ingredients for a quick meal in one of my pots, along with several other things. It only required adding two cups of water to the pot and then to start it cooking. It would be ready in less than 15 minutes. I had also brought a can of cat food for Al.. " His male egoshriveled up inside as he put on a cheerful face, clapped his handslightly, and said, "Thank you, Randi. I'm glad you're doing so much tohelp me with my... new look." "Much better," she congratulated. "Don'tyou dare go back to being a Dour Dora. Or a Sour Suzie." Now what else can I do for you? What do YOU think?" she mused, puttingthe tip of one finger under her chin. He thought desperately, trying tofigure out what she wanted to hear. Arnold just wanted to stay on. He reappeared though in mid-November to see Tim."I'm on the scrounge," he admitted cheerfully. "St Thomas's in Gloucester run a lunch for the homeless on Christmas Day so I'm here with my begging bowl." You've never asked me to contribute before," replied Tim.David grinned. "An unforgiveable oversight," he said, "but actually with the recession and the cut backs on benefits the parish council reckons there will be even more guests than usual this year." What sort of people are they?" asked Tim..