They didn't want to do anything to endanger the woman captive, but they also didn't want the bandits to escape. They were in a real quandary when the ...mpasse was broken for them. One of the lawmen's horses snorted, and that was enough to alert a nervous bandit. He turned in time to catch sight of the lawmen and shouted to his friends. All of the bandits turned to look at what had spooked the first bandit, and, when they did, the woman acted.She jammed her elbow into the gut of the man she was. . - Charlie said, before hesuddenly stopped talking.-What? - Andrea said as she looked at her little brother and to hersurprise she saw some tears on his eyes, before he cleaned them with herhand and sighed.- I... I think I would be happier if I were a girl. I'm... actually sure ofthat. I think ...no, I know that... I want to be a girl - Charlie said,stuttering.Andrea heard that with surprise, and both stood quietly, until Charliebroke the silence-Please, say something! Anything! Say what. “Definitely more hospitable,” Walt snickered before busying himself on the computer again.I made my way upstairs carefully, almost as carefully as I’d approached the cellar door earlier today. When I found one of the therapists, I asked if Cheryl was around. They pointed back downstairs to my bedroom so I knocked on the slightly open door. I found her in the midst of what looked like a gathering of the Playmates of the Year on my bed. When she saw me, I told her that her mother and sister would. " That's sweet, Mark." Hua said, smiling. "Come in." She led the young American boy inside. Young, but at just a hair under six feet, he was taller than her by almost a foot and a half. "Do ... do I look old to you?" she asked him."You?" Mark asked. "You look better than my mom ... um, don't tell her I said that." Hua laughed. It felt good, so she kept at it until she figured it was pushing the bounds of acceptibility."She'll never hear it from me, son." Hua said. "I guess you Americans don't.