"Dan, I mean I really love you. I'm just... hoping you know that." "Is there something wrong, Honey?" "Nope, nothing wrong. Just the opposite. I'm jus... feeling really good right now." "What are you wearing?" "Ha. Nothing at all. I just got done giving myself a good time." "Oh darn, I was hoping you were going to tell me a bedtime story." "I would love to, sweetie. Take a minute to get ready and I'll think of one." I'm not prepared for this but I start to spin a story in my head. I base it on a. It opened as I climbed the steps, Keira emerging with a bright smile on her face. Her impact was the same; I only had eyes for her. Nothing else interested me. She wore a black camisole under a white cotton button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up. The shirt was tucked into narrow-leg jeans, simple white sneakers on her feet. It was a simple outfit but in my opinion it was lovely.The outfit reinforced her slender youth. Now I looked closely I could see she had an almost delicate body. Did she. Consider yourself lucky. You got a cigarette?”“Left coat pocket. Matches in the right,” he said. “You said ‘first.’ You been in prison or something?”Alice laughed as she took a deep drag of her first cigarette in 17 years. “Yeah. Serving a life sentence.”She passed the cigarette over to her lover, who knew when a conversation was over. After a few moments, he asked, “Can I at least take a shower?”“No, I don’t think so,” she said, accept the cigarette once again. “You need to get dressed and. ..Julie heard the line go dead. "Mom! MOM!" shescreamed through her tears."Jim this is your father. Your Mom can't talk nowbut I want to tell you that we've always been proud ofyou and we know you'll continue to make us proud." Dad... I..." but the words couldn't come out.Julie was choking on panic and grief."Your Mom was telling you that we know about youwanting to be a woman. We have actually known aboutyou for quite some time." Dad seemed unusually calm."But... But how?" Julie sobbed."Don't.