."Deciding that she still hadn't earned my trust back in any real way, Ijust picked up the stupid plastic fork thing and began awkwardlyspearing and b...inging pieces up to my mouth. Annoyingly through themeal I dropped more than I liked to admit. Looking down at my dresswhen I was done eating I had a feeling she was going to comment."Well, I guess I should get you a bib next time... Of course, withthose plastic utensils I'm not surprised..." You could just let me use real utensils you know?"A. " Thinking of my fears made me pause and mouth dry out so I tooka few sips of my tea."Like I said then, why do it?" he asked again."Because..." I started, then had to take a deep breath. "Because I amterrified... Look dude, I've been afraid as long as I can remember...I've been hiding for as long as I can remember... I can't hide, I can'trun away... This is who I am, and who I was meant to be... I'm not goingto run from this and hide... Not anymore!" My voice started to break asI finished that. " "I go to the office and I come home. I watch television. Oh,I see what you mean, I think. I don't much talk to her, sharethings with her, tell her how I feel about things. Especially howI feel about her. And about things that interest her. Share herenthusiasms. Get excited with her about people we know." I hadtwirled pasta onto my fork carelessly, and some sauce dripped ontomy chin. "Wipe yourself," she said. "That's right. Yes. There arefeelings and opinions women usually. Please just keep me.” Maggie’s father's reaction to the news that she had a new roommate could not have been more different than that of Winnie’s father. He recognised the surname. How could he not have? It was a name that appeared on buildings and ships and as a multinational corporation on the paperwork of a staggering array of subsidiaries around the world involved in electronics, engineering, vehicle manufacturing, steel firms, media. Maggie’s father may well have been a regular on The.