."I kissed her nose. "Okay, I'll be good..."Giggle. "It is my expectation that you will be much more than just good. But Kara's little world is sort o... caving in. I think that's why she was here today."Jo told me sad stories about Kara."You know," I said, "we hung out with that bunch of nuts in Alabama. You heard the stories from Tina and Cindy and Nikki. But their moms had NOTHING. Kara's dad is rolling in it, and you tell me Kara..." Just a different facet of the same problem, baby," she. I haven’t made arrangements for shit! I just lied to her to keep her off balance. I don’t know if anything I told her will actually work.”“Then I suppose our first order of business is to put things in place where they do,” Phil said, nodding. “I’m pretty sure you’re right about gifts to children. It came up in a business class last semester. A man put his stock portfolio in his children’s names when they were minors in order to shield himself from taxes. They refused to return them without. Both of them knew that a more serious reason for havingLydia move in was the fact that the telepathic mind she nowhad would hear the surface thoughts of others as aconstant, mad buzz. She'd probably get used to it in time(Kendall certainly did), but until then, the temptation toeavesdrop, as well as the annoyance value, might lead tosome unexplainable complications, so it was better that shespend her time around other minds disciplined by Baraanditraining.By unspoken agreement, they got off the. .” Ally suggested, breaking what seemed like a long silence. “ ... just to see what it’s like.”“What do you think it would be like?” Ling asked.“Soft...” Ally whispered.“Soft...” Ling repeated in a whisper as well.They stood there for another few moments, listening to the beating of their hearts. Then, closing their eyes, their lips met.Gently, their lips brushed against each other, soft flesh against flesh. Alley reached up and ran her fingers through Ling’s long black hair, stroking her bare.