2. Quickening"These flowers would go very well. Very well, sir."And they will. Orchids will complement the black and white photographs for the gallery...display, this one on Terns."You think so? I'm a bit flower-deaf, you might say. The birds I can do," and well, he being the photographer, "but these flowers are dead already. They don't look quite right now matter how I look at them."He smiles at her.Slightly odd yet romantically corny speech. A whimsical smile.He's one.Her heart smokes through. It made me glad that I'd mentioned the pot."You don't sound like a pot grower." Another pause, then she really surprised me, "I kind of need to ask. Can you tell me about yourself...sexually?"It was one of those rare moments when the perfect thing to say just fell out of my mouth."I'm pretty self-sufficient."It took her a little while to respond but I was proud of my answer and just waited."That's more reassuring to me than you can imagine." Another pause, pretty long this time. "Lisa's dad. As soon as I entered the kitchen, Meili made a point of very visibly tearing off the next page of the count-down calendar that showed the number of days until she turned fourteen. I really think Steve made the right decision to ban any sexual activity with her, no matter how willing she was to initiate it. Her almost frightening eagerness to have sex right now, as opposed to when she was legal, made me leery. As it was, I was bracing myself for a marathon tag-team event on her birthday. I could. “I’m not sure! I don’t know what to think!” She looked across at a poster of her beloved Susan for guidance, knowing full well that none would be forthcoming. Fatima followed her gaze, and smiled in apparent approval. “She’s a very pretty girl, isn’t she? Are you a fan?” Amna nodded sadly. “She’s why I’m in fuck films.” “Oh you poor darling!” Exclaimed Fatima, appearing to understand more than she possibly could from this brief exchange. She stood up and walked over to the bed. She lay down on.