‘Really?’ she says. ‘You should. Don’t you think, Alex?’ Alex only shrugs. ‘I don’t see why not. Helena, what do you think? You’re the...artist.’ I would rather chug a full bottle of solvent. ‘I’ll think about it.’ Victoria beams brightly at me and I force myself to smile back. I make a mental note to paint her as Medusa. Victoria stays longer than promised. Alex is back in his pose, talking to her, as I stand by my easel. I should be painting in the details of the cloth that covers so little of. Wait.” There was a long pause and Fry could hear a discussion between his cousins. The voice returned to the phone. “There is a man climbing up on the slopes from this direction.”“Can you tell who it is?”“His back is to us and his parka hood is up.”“Follow him, but don’t move in,” Fry instructed. “Don’t try to apprehend him unless there is a threat. I’ll pick you up on the other side.”“It will be good to stretch our legs. I hear the view from the top is wonderful,” said his cousin. “See you on. As always, look at the categories. If none of those are your thing, click the BACK button right now.PART IMrs. Larks did not consider herself a nosey woman. She was blissfully unaware that her neighbors thought her a controlling, obsessive, scheming old tart with a temper like a scalded cat. Her children, two lovely young teens by the name of Timothy and Cassandra - better known as Tim and Cassie - were the delight of the neighborhood and generally balanced off Mrs. Larks nastiness. Mrs. Larks. Long endless days of sun,no rain,clear skies and;as it was in those days,freedom. Freedom from your parents,freedom to come and go as you pleased: just be home when it got dark or you got hungry which ever came first. I was $#ne.My best mate was J.also *&ne J.had an older brother T.who was t%&*%@@n,and like all bigger brothers,a bit of a bully so we stayed out of his way. J. had a younger sister S.she was s*^*n and a right pain in the buttalways trying to follow J.and me all over. I was at J's.