My mothercame home and I lied about falling on the stairs to get the bruise.Well, the punch did the trick for me. I never acted like a girl againfor ... long time, all the way to my senior year in high school.I was not very popular with other guys in high school. I was notathletic and having money I was resented. I did have a lot of girlfriends though, but not in the romantic sense. I had one best friend,Kathy, that I pretended was my girlfriend in front of my parents. Wewould hold hands and. It was just delayed in the post. But that didn’t solve the problem that she needed the money now. She had tried to telephone her ex-husband but his office said he was in Europe on a business trip. They had offered to e-mail him for her but she had said no, not wanting to bother him. Now she wished she had accepted their offer. Damn, damn, damn. She threw the paper to one side part in anger and part in despair. What now? She thought. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she nearly missed. In the beginning it was just once in awhile. Just like the dreams, when they first started. Coming to him only when he had felt secure in the fact he had pushed them back to some forgotten place in his mind. On occasions he would find himself standing in front of the rod iron fence which enclosed the cemetery, just watching, for what he was not sure. Always walking way feeling a bit foolish, yet with an emptiness that seemed to form in the very depths of his soul. Women came and went, he could. ” In seconds they are on the court. Evelyn finds Maria on the basketball course with her brother. She walks over and leans against the house to watch them quietly. Their banter is amusing and clearly, sibling fueled. Maria had stripped off her button down in favor of her tank top and tight jean shorts. Not to mention the beads of sweat dripping down her cleavage. She licks her lips and takes a deep breath to control herself. “She’s beautiful.” Evelyn jumps slightly and looks to her.