The serenity of the temple settled him a little, but his memories were crowding in, demanding that he feel again the ache of being alone, of being pic...ed on by the twins, of being blamed and banished."They fed off of one another. I was the scapegoat; I was the odd one out that everyone else could treat with scorn and ridicule. Hannah acts like a slut? Blame David. Elizabeth burns the meat for dinner? Blame David! No, the twins had to stick together. I was regarded as the threat to their cosy. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I said that.” “Good,” Rachael said. “Because I want to make love to you too.” “But Dave . . . he . . .” “. . .wont be home for at least another three hours.” Jason looked flushed. “What if he comes home early?” “We’ll go downstairs to the laundy room,” Rachael said as she struggled out of the chair and stood. “If Dave comes home he’ll just think you were. ”“What we’ll do is take every space worthy ship there is. Top off their fuel tanks and have them run for the hills. What I mean is that they’ll run to the nearest stations and ships that will take them in. What we need to do TODAY is send out the fastest ships to all the stations and big rigs and let them know what’s happening. Then launch everybody else and hope they can make it. We need to do this by messenger. We have to assume that ALL communications are being monitored.”“Who’s going to pay. Do you seeone you would like to watch?" Nah. Let's cut to the chase and stop wasting time," he said."What do you mean?" I asked, although I was getting an unpleasantfeeling that I already knew."Enough of the game playing. I am a man and you used to be one. It isobvious that you asked me here for sex. Well, I'm ready and willing,"he said.Shirley took a quick step toward me and wrapped his arms around myshoulders, pinning my arms to my sides. He kissed me on the lips, muchmore forcibly than I.