‘Hello, madam,’ beamed the sexy Asian maid whoanswered the front door in the same ‘Stepford Wife’manner. ‘Mrs Simmons is waiting for you. Pl...ase followme.’I never did learn the woman’s name, but as I followedher through the marble-clad reception hall and up the mainflight of stairs, I couldn’t help but notice the fact that shelooked more like a strip-o-gram than a normal domesticmaid.Leaving aside the fact that she was sexier than I waswith a gorgeous dark complexion, long ‘shampoo advert’hair,. As you can imagine for the next five or so years there was an awkwardness between us. We never spoke of that day and pretended it never happened, a silent agreement we had. I would often comfort myself by stating the fact that we weren’t really related, my dad married his mom. As time passed we grew further apart, in school I would see him but never had direct contact, at home it was similar with clipped small talk to keep Dad and Carol happy. We also matured more, I thinned out and my chest. When the train station caught fire and Claire put outthe flames with her super-breath, there were a few jeers along with thecheers from the watching crowd. Someone even had the audacity to send aletter to the editor of the Smallville Ledger asking why this meddlesomegirl didn't just let the fire department do its job.Claire was undaunted, though. She kept right on helping people, mostly inher own back yard, but traveling far and wide when the call came....like itdid on the first of November.. Witness the cheap furnishings of what was, after all, an expensive property in an affluent area of Surrey.The ?Seen better days? Mondeo on the drive yet another example of the ?Kakkar’s? reticence when it came to parting with a pound note.?It’s very nice,? I told her truthfully, taking another sip and feeling a strange lassitude come over me before, with an effort of will, pressing on; wanting my business with her over and done with. ?Now, Sreelatha, the reason I’m here is to???Buy the half of.