She had no idea that a parent could be anything other than an inflictor or pain or humiliation. She basked in their attention and instinctive nurturin... when she was in their homes.They in turn were all charmed by her seeming child-like innocence and gratitude for any kindness. They tried to help her improve the horrible self image inflicted on her by years of psychological abuse at the hands of her parents.One of the first things Raul did was persuade her to join Bobby and Sammy in their Karate. I met the others at Bobs place, the plan was to have a few wines, some pizza and pickies, then to go and watch the fireworks. The fireworks are usually good, quite spectacular in fact, and a great way to bring in the New Year. Its great that here in Australia Christmas and New Year are in summer, lovely warm evenings. That part worked well enough, but somehow as we were moving through the crowd by the Yarra River I was separated from the others. No big problem, plenty of people around, a real. He hoped it wasn't beans.He decided to get the stink off of him before going into the camp, and altered his direction of travel to bypass the wagon and go directly to the creek. He had to go amongst the inevitable Cottonwood trees to get to the water, which was barely a trickle. Turning, he walked upstream toward the wagon, hoping to find a pool. His boots made almost no sound on the sandy bottom of the creek bed.He was almost to the wagon when he found the pool, but was unprepared to find. However, with both kids now at university, and Jackie struggling with the empty nest syndrome, she reverted to making more and more of the decisions without reference to Dan.So, when one day, Dan came home the worst for drink, and Jackie berated him, he said directly, “I don’t see why we should have any arguments over this. If you think you are right and I’m wrong, then the best thing to do is just give me a spanking and you tell me not to do it again.”Jackie looked at Dan in surprise, knowing.