Neither girl had felt very keen on actually eating any of the chicken pieces they'd earned, so one thing definitely not on the menu was fowl.They cook...d the food on a pile of dry sticks and twigs, eating the tinned food directly from the cans in which they came, and although it was a meal of convenience, it was, for Tracey, the best meal she'd had since Throb. And a meal enjoyed the more for sharing it with Buttercup whose body she later chewed and nibbled with at least as much enthusiasm as. I shouldn't have worried, I guess. Dad's position during the discussion was revealing, and for me, profitable, at least in the short term. It sounded as if Mom's surprise job was a surprise to Dad too, and he raised the point that echoed through my reality."What if he had refused, Helen?" Well he didn't Bill." But he could have, Helen." But he didn't, Bill."I wanted to interject an 'I was going to', but they were addressing each other by their first names, and that was never a good. I grabbed the car keys and drove over to my sisters as fast as I could.After fifteen minutes I was pulling on the drive, full of anticipation and hope that Dan was home. As I rang the bell I rehearsed what I was going to say. However as soon as he opened the door and I saw him standing there, I threw my arms round him and kissed him fully on the mouth, pulling him to me as hard as I could. His arms closed around and I felt his hands running done my back and onto my arse cheeks where he squeezed. He, too, was surprised. She had changed very much."I detected a sudden change in her mood. I had the feeling that she just made a decision. She rolled away from me and lay very still. Her voice dropped its teasing quality and became very small as if she was speaking from a distance. The gentle modulations that I had come to associate with her disappeared entirely and she spoke on in a flat monotone."One night, he came late to their house. Her father and mother had gone to Moscow for the week..