I took Anne's hand, squeezed it gently and thought very hard,"Anne, I love you. Relax. This might be uncomfortable, but Julie will get no-where."Wheth...r or not she 'heard' me, I couldn't say, but she smiled very slightly and her eyes met mine."What can we do for you, Julie? Or is this just a social visit?" I was wondering if you'd given any thought to what I asked you last time we met?"My word, that was a bit blunt."What was to think about? You wanted out a year ago; you didn't want a permanent. I spent the weekend worrying what to do.I surfed an internet site that had women's clothing and they dida next day urgent delivery so I placed an order.The next week came and my reports day duly arrived and took thelingerie in a back pack to work.I couldn't concentrate and even my boss commented I needed toget my mind on the job, but just couldn't.Evening came and the clock ticked around far too quickly. Icouldn't risk it and before 8.30 came I dived off into the men'stoilets and locked myself. They started using the stuff back east. It was pretty scarce atone time - probably expensive to synthesize and magically alter, but inthe last few months there've been a couple of dozen cases of it. Theymust have found a way to make it cheaper. A prostitute who is really amember of the WLA infects a john and gets away before he ever knows whathit him."What actually happens is that the human body normally replaces itscells over time - seven years is the accepted norm. With this virusthough, the. This had not always gone well, but it had become important.We had talked for hours and hours over the past weeks and months. The talks had been painful for us both. At times, things felt wonderful all over again, but a cloud had hovered over us for months. And yesterday, we had had a huge fight. Things appeared very bleak, and so I had left, seeking some space to think, to ponder, to just find some answers.I loved her. She was my life. She had taken me down paths of learning I would never.