I couldn’t be a terrible person.“I did.” Pain crossed her face. “I just wanted so desperately to hold on. But that’s the problem. Mothers ha...e to let go of their children. If we hug them too tightly, they can never grow. We can just be there to guide them. To help them when they face difficult choices. To advise them. And to love them even when they make mistakes. I love you, Sky. I do.”“Mom,” I croaked.“Love is just a collar of a different sort,” Spice moaned. “Don’t listen to her. Think of. I just hoped it would relieve my stress, living in a house full of women was terrible, even though I rarely saw them. I'd been observing those same five women daily and no one else at all. The worst thing was, I was starting to see them in creepy, sexual ways. I guess that's what isolation can do to you. Heh! Heh! Mom and Aunt Bec had always been competitive, so when the lockdown went into effect, they had become real Home-Gym junkies. Exercising in the Den for hours on end until one of them. I didn't know what the reaction was going to be then but I didn't think I wanted to know. I returned to the living room from the beautifully decorated bedroom that the bathroom adjoined, and found them talking again as they slowly danced. Both seemed more serious than they had before. I had resolved to get my purse and leave immediately but found myself watching them and feeling all those feelings I had when John danced with me. They stopped as I came back into the room. I started to. She made a conscious effort to calm herself and breathe deeply. A last tremor ran through her body but faded fast. She had been shaken awake. Pushing aside her confusion for a moment she focussed on her need for a drink. Her mouth was at that stage whereby it was so dry that it was sticky and her lips glued together. She padded softly downstairs, not wanting to wake her sleeping family, and opened the fridge. Orange juice would suffice. As she leant against the bench in the dark she heard.