)I removed her hands and asked, –Ghore alo jele debo? Tate aamader bhalobasha chhobi hoye aynate phute uthbe.(Shall I swich on the lights. Our love ...ill be depicted in the mirror.)She: Ja khushi. (as you please.) I left the bed, pulled all curtains, which wasabsolutely unnecessary, as we had very high walls, and then lit all the lightsof the room and came back to lie down besides pishimoni. I pulled her petticoat down herhips, making her nude before my eyes. Then I put my palm across her. You're going hiking with Ben today, obviously. Is he taking you out later?" Yeah - but I have to be home by eleven," she scowled."Okay, so what are you going to wear?" What did YOU wear last night?" Oh, just a very pretty white eyelet sundress, a little jewelry, nice nails, perfume ... and a LOT of makeup." Oh my God, did you have to? Mark probably told Ben and he'll expect ME to look like that. I'm screwed." Not necessarily," I said with a smile. "If I'm not mistaken, I owe you big time - you. After years of trying to forget that time, it exists in my mind now as a series of snapshots. Bridget driving us to the hospital, all of us commiserating with Katie as her leg was placed in a cast, the funeral several days later, the multitudinous succession of "I'm sorries" and the hollow feeling in my gut that just wouldn't quit. I tried to remain stoic and brave in the face of it all, knowing that I was now the man of the house, but I confess that when I was alone, I cried more than any of. There had been a broken syringe lying beside the bed, but they didn't know where he'd got the drugs from. There had been no note, but the door and windows were closed and it was impossible that it had been murder. Kevin had a vaguely crescent-shaped scar on his shoulder from an old love-bite. I don't know what kind of things he'd been forced to do when he was alive. I know that he'd hated the thought of sex. He would have resisted me when he was alive. I bent low over him and opened his mouth.