..Then it hit me.Teri and the children could live out on the farm, and take care of the housework and cooking, as long as she cleaned up nicely, and w...s able to cook, that is.When we arrived, I called the contractor that redid the house and asked about having a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment built over the garages. I wasn't keen on having two children, who were not mine, living with me, under my roof, but building them a garage apartment was a great alternative. "We can do that," he. Jackson?" I know they're not psychiatrists but they are women," my mother said."I just think it might help to have another woman's point of view, otherthan mine." Sure! I'd love to talk to them, but are you asking because you're notbehind me doing this any more?"Mom shook her head and said no. "I was in there with Dr. Giardi too,"she said, "And I thought everything she said made sense." Except for the parts you didn't understand?" I asked sarcastically."I don't know. Even those parts seemed. I finished my first book. It was about 2:30 in the morning. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink. I was suspicious. "Doc?" Yes, Jonesy?" Have you been fucking with my corpus? No food, no drink, no peeing in over eighteen hours. It ain't natural." It is when you've got a virtual kidney the size of a rowboat." Oh. Uh, is it Okay if I shut down for a while? I'm used to sleeping about six hours of every twenty-four. It's kind of programmed in." Go ahead. I'll keep watch."I took care not to disturb. "Whatever happens, Chris... remember that... that people love you, yeah?And that it will get better."I nodded. I didn't believe a word she said, but I wanted her to believeI did. At that moment, that mattered more than anything else in theworld. That was when she kissed me - my first kiss, and hers too, Isuspect - a beautiful, awkward moment, nervous and strange and tragicwith the knowledge that this whole new world was finally starting toopen up just as it was to be denied me forever.And yet I.