I was bitterly disappointed. It never occurred to my ten year old mind that I should regret having to give up wearing a woman’s corset. After all, d...d wore one. By the second day I missed the secure and pleasant feelings it had given me more than I could have imagined. I heard it said many years later that wearing a corset was habit forming; some even called it an addiction. Mom had hatched her little plot carefully. Actually the back problem gave her an opportunity that she might have had to. It's safer and we can whisper to each other."Maria said, "I am hungry, Arnoldo." I nodded. We went into the kitchen area first to raid what we could. There was little left. We filled our water bottles and went back to the bedroom and lay down facing each other on the pallet.I said, "I think we need to stay hidden for all of today and tomorrow. We can search through the backyards in other houses for more food. I'm worried. We know there are two groups. The black shirts are definite bad guys. I'm. She and I opened the front door and walked out. Mister Roberts jumped from his car and shouted that his daughter's problems were all my fault. Before I knew what was happening, he shot me. I heard the pistol go off a second time as I fell. I blacked out and woke here about twenty minutes ago."I understand that Mister Roberts is dead. He was my ex-wife's father. Our divorce had been peaceful until about two months ago. I had refused to sit with my ex when our daughter married. I was remarried. Around about twelve o'clock I started to feel nervous and, with my lunch starting at twelve-thirty I didn't need to put much effort into figuring out the cause, my lunchtime meeting with the vice-principal.I managed to suppress the urge to chuckle when I wondered if she'd put our appointment in her diary, the image of her assistant glancing at the entry and seeing 'show stockings to Mister Hayles' was nearly too much for me to contain.Like the rest of my classmates I was packed up and ready to.