I place my hand on her back as we walk across the street. I don't push hard, just enough to be felt. She leans back into it, receiving the strength I ...ffer. We sit on our bench. We pull the lids off our cups. We sniff deeply across the tops of the cups. We sip. We savor. We smile. Ritual complete. "It's over. He's out of the house. I filed the papers yesterday. Please don't offer condolences. I'm relieved, and for now, that's... enough." I don't know what to say. 'I'm happy for you.' sure. Just in case of emergency, I found out where Lorelei’s office was. And when I looked at the listing in the building directory, I sure realized how much she had surrounded herself by women. Then when I read their advertising in the daily paper, I saw that they were very much involved in women’s issues. I wryly thought that Professor King really had no idea what he was going to create when he decided to mess with Lorelei. The next day I went to U of T and went to the University Police Office.. “Good, Traci. You can go clean up the kitchen when you’re done.” She flashed a dark look. “Once the locker room is spotless again.”“Shouldn’t’ve pushed your luck, kid.” I rubbed her back bouncing her hard.“Yeah, well then, if you fuck me hard enough, my legs won’t work. Then you can write me a note to get me out of chores.”“You better get a real doctor to do that.”“Mistress Deering’s the only doctor down here.” Traci frowned when I laughed at her. “And she’s not that kind of doctor.”I slapped. He hesitantly put his hand on my forehead."No big deal. "So you got him to touch you. Did that do it?" Nope. I told him that Mom didn't check for fever the way. She'd put her lips on my forehead, because they're more sensitive." Wow! And he fell for that?" They'll let anybody teach these days."Not at first. But I kept fluttering my eyes, like I was going to pass out again. Finally, he leaned over and kissed my forehead. 'You're really hot, ' he said. Damn right I was. So I told him it wasn't.