We weren't -- real close." Still, it's hard, isn't it?" Marsha said, touching Shirley's hand where it rested on the table. "My mom died a couple of ye...rs ago. It's -- hard."Another pregnant pause in the conversation. Herm filled the silence. "How long are you going to be in town?" he asked Shirley."I'm leaving tomorrow," she said. "My mom is moving in with her brother and his wife, and selling our old house." You going back to California?" Herm asked. "I heard you were living out there."Shirley. After an hour again I went to the reception, sat there and started talking with her about hospital, about jammu, about her family life then I asked her” are u married” she replied “are u?”I said “no. looking for”, and then she also started asking me about my qualification, my job, my family, etc.During this tenure I was feeling very uneasy without her appearance and her presence, whenever she gets her duty off, I used to feel disappointed, in fact there was some sort of passion developed in me. It had been great with the four of us together. When it was just Mum and I it could be a bit lonely. I loved my Mum with all my heart, but she could be very closed off sometimes.Having Tish and Gwen about had been good, not only for me, but for Mum as well. Mum had taken to Tish immediately, probably seeing a lot of herself in her. She had gone out of her way to help Tish out, and make her feel at home. They got on like a house on fire, with Mum treating Tish like one of the family, which was. "Yeah... whatever... as if I enjoy it there! Oh well, that's just my luck, I guess. Talk to you later." Heather hung up the phone softly and I went back to the living room and plopped down onto the couch, planning on wasting another evening watching cable television. I noticed "American Beauty" was on one of the movie channels, which immediately let me to the scene of one of the actresses lying on bed surrounded by rose petals. My thoughts then flashed to the image of Heather lying naked on the.