”I smiled and asked, “What is it?”Mom said, “You have to really hurt me. I need to feel pain.”I frowned a little but said, “I know I can d... it if that is what you really want.”Then I watched as Mom dug around in the bottom of her closet and pulled out an old suitcase. She placed it on her bed and opened it. There inside were things that I never expected to see in my mother’s possession. She had a long wooden paddle, a short wide leather strap with a handle, and something that she called. The light bulb went off.“Darling, we’re going to be in the bathroom for awhile, my stomach isn’t feeling well” she did it very skillfully.She poured some sweet smelling bubble bath into the tube. She didn’t care about not being so fucking noisy, and eased the faucet open, first the hot water then the cold. I kept the bath water running so that it would not be too cold or hot. I didn’t want her getting any ideas upon my state: I was very excited. She searched for the lighter, gathered the. ”“And so you saw all the stuff about the Pathfinder probe?”Anyone who was alive and walked past a TV in the last two months would know what Pathfinder was. The cable news shows had been plastered with it since July, when Pathfinder reached Mars and the Sojourner rover started sending back pictures from the surface. The news had started to die down a bit for July, as the novelty wore off for most people, but it still showed up every week or two.“Yeah, I saw it.”“That was me.”“What?” I asked, not. But there is one man who stands apart from the crowd. At first, I watch him quietly. Then, I begin staring at him lustfully. His thick blond hair is neither too long nor too short. His corner-of-the-mouth smile looks just a tad mischievous. His warm green eyes are gazing back at me. And oooh, his chiseled body. I lower the lids of my big, brown eyes and give him that look that says, "I'm yours if you'll have me."And he responds the way any man would respond when a beautiful girl gives THAT.