She put her hands on my cheeks, icy cold. It felt incredible."We don't have to if you don't want to. I just thought you wanted to." I... do want to...... I started breathing easier as my face cooled, "just Inever did anything like this before..."She laughed again, every sound she made was beautiful, "you think Ihave?"She acted like she had, for sure."OK I'll go first," she said, "I trust you."She walked over to the door and locked it, laughing through her noseagain as she turned back to me, "now. I had given up hope and laid in that damned bed in the hospital and grew bitter. Probably next would come indifference and loss of the will to live. " His lips twisted as if he had tasted something bitter and foul."Then you came along and..." He paused, and then added, "You gave me hope." His voice cracked as he tried to put the urgency of his feelings into words.His intense gaze caused her to see why this man in the wheelchair had been one of the top athletes in the world. She began to feel. "Tell me. And remind me to darn those stockings." I will have to start making lists, she thought. Not enough hours in the day. Now this, this whatever it is. She patted her daughter's back and then rubbed gently."I need to talk with your father. We lost three customers today, good ones, big accounts." He took another sip.Caroline wrinkled her forehead and patted the baby's back again. "Why?" she said, still very softly, determined not to show her concern."I think I know but I'm not sure, and. .. sure... but Savannah. You know you are doing very well in my class." It's... well... um.. It's about something you said today in class," Savannah seemed barely able to form the sentence. I strained to even hear her."Of course..." I said scrawling out the note on an index card. "I'll see you at 3:15." Thanks, Miss Reese."She seemed to almost trudge out of my classroom. I noticed her slender shoulders slump and her hands self-consciously rubbed down the hem of her short skirt as she made her.