"I just want to look nice." You do look nice, Kelly," she said. "You're very pretty and I'm sure..."The door opened then, as much to the nurse's surpr...se as mine, and a man stood there, tall and thin and dressed like a funeral director."You can't come in here!" The nurse blinked at him and she looked a little offended actually."That's her," the man said and I noticed for the first time that he held a small device, like a pocket calculator or something."What are doing?" the nurse demanded, and. It was one afternoon when mummy was sleeping in her room; I had gone to kitchen and heard some whispers. I tiptoed in the direction of the window, which had jali (wire gauge) and just peeped out. I thought sister was still at her friend’s house but I found her standing close to the window; he was trying to embrace her and she was resisting and I could see she was red in the face. They were talking something which I could not hear properly, except a few broken sentences, like “nahin Na’, “please. He is like an animal, trying to stop the suffering by lashing out. ‘But what? What is it that you imagine I owe you?’ She cannot speak. If she opens her mouth, she knows she will break down, so she bites her lip and holds his eyes with hers, her shoulders set defiantly. She will not leave. To leave would mean losing him forever, and she is not willing to let that happen. The facade of coldness fractures and he raises his voice again. ‘Leave me alone, woman! I will strike you. I do not want to,. .. ‘cept I’m smarter.”“Who cares about any old Russian ... I don’t. And I have a sudden urge to meet your Auntie.”And he kissed me on my nose and tossed me high and caught me on the way down. I squealed like a four year old and headed for my kart and airplane. The cart ... Oh No ... I left it on ... it won’t start. Time for ‘womanly wiles.’“My battery is dead ... my kart won’t go,” I batted my eyes and asked, nicely, “Would you carry my kart home in your pickup?”“What makes you think I have a.