I tried to laugh it off, nervously. "I really have to stop staring at people. That's twice you've caught me at it."Vicky just smiled. "Oh, I took it a... a compliment when you stared at me. I'll bet your mom would feel the same if she saw you look at her like you did. It's nice to be admired, don't you think? Especially by your daughter." She paused to watch Mom. "Did you know that your mother thinks she's boring?"Suddenly I felt embarrassed. Was that how I thought of her? "Um ... no, I didn't. Tiana, had yesterday modeled a beautiful evening gown which Darius had given her. She had enjoyed lording it over Mioki while informing her that she and Darius were going out to dinner and a concert that evening.Whether Darius did not realize it or simply did not care, his absolute power over Mioki was waning. The two things which had bound her to him, love and lust were now being denied her and she began to realize how she had been used and now virtually discarded. Her fear of him was still. He couldn’t see the value in that, but I knew that the advanced degree would get me better jobs, and better salaries, too. To say he was unsupportive of my higher education goals would be an understatement - and that put a further strain on our marriage. Soon after I earned my MA, I got an offer for a really good job, teaching English Literature, a favorite subject of mine. The trouble was, it was at a junior college in Missouri, a couple of thousand miles from our home in California. My. When they return in January however, they found that rules had definitely changed. For one thing boys and girls could no longer kiss in the halls, they weren’t really supposed to in the first place but most teachers ignored it. Now however whenever a teacher saw it happening they put a stop to it immediately. Each of the students who were caught kissing were given a stern warning, for the first two weeks anyway. After that they were assured, the students would be more severely punished. What.