The waist cincher,which was to be my latest nighttime punishment attire, cut me almost inhalf.After a whole day of abject humiliation as a boy being s...bjected to thefemale rites of bra fittings and shoe fittings and dress fittings andlearning women's restroom rituals, I returned home to an evening ofMarie and Mother and Father making me do a fashion show of all ourpurchases.I was made to model each and every piece of lingerie and clothing. But Ihad to change into each outfit right in front of. Stevenson. I’m here to bring you a message from a man who would very much like to shake your hand and give you his heartiest thanks.”I relaxed a little, and closed the door and dropped my backpack on the floor.“Here, have a beer, even if it is terrible. I think after a days work building warehouses, you’d need one.” He got up and opened the room fridge and passed me one of the Tecate’s in there.I sat on the bed, he sat in the chair and I took a long slurp, waiting for him to get to the point of. " She paused and continued in a lower voice heavy with emotion, "I want to spend as much time with you as I can before I have to go."Sirinna drew in a deep breath and let it go, her own emotions showing now as she stepped up to Amanda. "I understand," she said softly, stroking Amanda's hair. "I am going to miss you terribly."Amanda saw Sirinna's eyes shimmer. She felt her own tears trying to form, her vision blurring a bit until she blinked them away.Nothing was said between them as there were. It was no big deal. I'm pretty sure that most kids my age have tried alcohol. I liked it better than smoking. But I didn't actually like it all that much either. I decided that I'd rather leave it than take it. I don't use drugs. I smoked pot a couple of times. It was fun. But it was even harder than smoking cigarettes and it was so damned expensive!The things I did were just silly kid things. I didn't steal. I didn't do anything to hurt people. I had some friends that were borderline criminals.