Not only could he lose his job, but he could go to jail if we had been caught. I agreed. I had no desire for him to do either of those things.After I ...inished lunch and cleaned up my dishes, I asked mom, “Where’s dad?”“Oh, he’s in our room. Seems to be expecting a visit from some special young woman,” she deadpanned looking straight at me.“Oh, is that so? Well, what if no special young woman is coming to visit? What then?”“I don’t know, darling. But, would you want him to be. She shook her head, chiding herself. “That’s stupid. I’m an adult, dammit.” She kicked the covers off and shifted to look over the edge of the bed. “I know better, I can’t be afraid of monsters.”“Monsters don’t…” Her eyes widened at the sight of a clawed hand waving at her from beneath her bed. Two luminous silver eyes glowed up at her as she scrambled back on her bed, shrieking.A tall skinny monster stood before her bed, its body bony and emaciated. It had skin seemingly similar to a human’s. I already knew lots of things but I didn’t know if I knew this thing. It seemed sometimes that she delighted in tormenting me. Maybe it was just her age.“We enjoy so much having you come to visit in the summer. It puts new life into this old place.”“You know I love being here and I love this house so much.” I couldn’t help but look around.“Well, this old house loves you too and so, one of these days, it will be yours.”I was frozen, a stunned expression on my face. Mine? How could that be? I was. Even better, I thought. I remembered thatPao had stayed the night and rolled over to see...Areeya's face smilingback at me.If it were possible to jump two steps back when you're lying down, that'swhat I did. "My God, where did you come from?" I looked around. "Andwhere's Pao?" I came in after you had gone to sleep and told Pao that I would takeover from her. Is that a bad thing? I can call Pao to come back if youwould prefer." Areeya had a big grin on her face. I rolled over to faceher and.