“Shoosh,” she whispered. “When you feel me take you inside me, you’ll know its right.” She twisted out of my grasp and stepped into the bath...oom. I turned toward the bedroom, turned on the bedside lamp, pulled the towel off and scrubbed my hair one last time before sliding between the sheets. I felt the cool comfort of the bedding against my skin and the easy support of the bed smoothing the tension of the day from my muscles. I turned on my side and looked at the street lights beaming their. But playing with Victoria was about as much fun as cold eggs, so I avoided her at all costs. So I went to my assigned seat between John Lawrence and Robby Merton and waited for the bell to ring. She had been pretty nice, I thought, but then nice old Ms. Clark last year turned out to be a real pain. The bell rang and Ms. Rohrbaugh went to the blackboard and wrote her name. She appeared young, despite the graying hair, and she wore black pants and a cream colored blouse, which I . " Oh I do too!"Tanya told Corey she had done lots of research on the internet aboutmales who changed to females."You're a perfect candidate for a sex change," she said."Psychologically, you're a girl. God, even physically you're a girl,even more than I am."They giggled at that. Corey was aware that such things happened, but here he was a poor boyfrom the wrong side of the tracks, and the cost of such operations --perhaps as much as $30,000 when all was said and done -- was well out ofhis. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one.