The nurse had been laughing all through this as she prepared for removing it. At that point she pulled down the bedsheet. Thankfully Mom looked away, ...ven though she was smiling. Nurse Carter quipped, “Yep, all the same.” Mom laughed and I groaned. “Ready?” asked the nurse.At that moment Mom pointed towards the window. “What’s that?”I twisted my head to the side and looked but didn’t see anything. I felt this weird tugging down below, but that was over in a couple of seconds. “What?”“My. Oh god, Laura thought, this darling girl is a member of some weird cult that believes in spacemen."You mean you belong to this... group?" she asked, mildly, wanting to say 'cult' but stopping herself, trying to keep the sharp skepticism out of her voice."Oh no," Shaniqua shook her head. "But I've been toying with the idea." Don't they..." Laura inquired tentatively, "sort of... require you to quit your job and give them all your money and move to... who knows, Los Angeles or something? I mean,. .. we’re good?”“Good,” I said. “Now, my step-mom ... I’ll talk to her. Y’all need to come visit for dinner. Your Dave, he’s sociable, I take it?”“He is. Our Dave...” I noted Brindy’s tone when she said ‘our Dave’ “ ... is genuine ‘good people.’ And if you invite US over, then we get to invite YOU over...”“I’ll make tamales...” Carlita laughed.“I like tamales,” I said. “You...”“One does not live in a little orphanage and NOT spend time in the kitchen. I learned. They are MY recipe.”“Dad. I had no idea what would happen now. I lifted my head slowly, and looked at his eyes.He was looking down at me with a playful expression. “You are an unbelievable fuck Yukio. That was amazing.” I just looked at him and leaned in and kissed his chin. I said “I guess I should not mention this to Hillary either.” with a smile on my face.“Not to Hillary, no.” He had a strange expression in his eyes and was looking over my shoulder. I turned my head quickly.Standing there with her robe open,.