)Mona Lisa Life: December '63 (Oh, What a Night)By Heather St. ClaireThe wrapping paper and other debris burning in the fireplace of thebungalow provi...ed both heat and a soft glow that lit the room on thismagical night. It was Christmas, December 25, 1963.Claire and Melissa snuggled close to each other and took occasional sipsfrom their wineglasses. They were both wearing long, warm nightgowns andfuzzy slippers. Their girls had been in bed for a couple of hours; asmidnight approached, they were. The room appeared to be an abandoned art room, there were a few paint brushes sat inside a pot in the corner next to a great arching wall to ceiling window and we could see the entire city over the river. He stood facing me with desire and intrigue in his eyes which were burning holes through my entire body. I felt another surge of adrenaline shudder through my system and stepped closer to him, grabbing at his shoulders I forced him to walk a few paces backwards until his back hit the wall.. Momcame in at some point and held me and gently stroked my head, but didn't sayanything. The character of the tears changed at some point, though. At first,they were tears of pain, for all the sadness, despair and deception I hadbeen forced to endure; but then, they shifted to tears of joy; sheer,unbelieving joy that I had been so lucky to have my deepest wish fulfilled.It was as if I had been trapped at the bottom of an empty well....my tearswere filling it, but also bringing me closer to the. I purposely didn’t pay any heed to her during my workout. She said she wanted to speak to me. I said go on. She said no, not here, at my house. I said okay, lets go.We went inside her home, she asked me to sit down and asked some thing in a serious tone.“ why do you always stare at my lips? And why did you hug me that tightly that day?’Me: ‘nothing like that, I hug all my female friends like that’Pearl: ‘ and what do you do after that?’Me: ‘ what do you mean?’Pearl: ‘what do you do after.