Great - I'll see you then."She rang off. I sat there on the bench for another half hour. There wereso many excuses I could have given, so many ways I ...ould have got out ofthat damned appointment. But for some reason I just hadn't, and nowthings were going to get even more embarrassing!--The weekend slipped past unnoticed in a haze of fear and excitement. Igenuinely can't remember one thing about it.Tim had given me Monday afternoon off, as I feared he would, and before Iknew it I was once again. ”“No, but she can marry the father of the baby, and at least get that part right!”“I don’t believe she wants to do that,” I replied.“She has no choice in the matter! She made that choice when she lay with him!”“And if he’s not Orthodox?” I asked.“Then chrism will solve that problem! Whoever this young man is must take responsibility for what he’s done, and that means fulfilling his obligations!”I had no specific objection that I could reasonably voice, because whoever the guy was, he DID have. I was just sixteen when I took a summer vacation hotel job, as a chambermaid. No were not not required to wear a uniform, as depicted in those fantasy videos, but I did dress appropriately, but I also like wearing the black stockings, as opposed to the tights the older women wore.Because I was tall, I wore pumps and a mid-length skirt, with white blouse, so on the surface I was a very stand-out schoolgirlish summer worker.Most of the guests were middled-aged, vacationing for one to two weeks,. "How can I humiliate you the way you've humiliated me?" she asked."How can I get even with you, you bastard." And she started to cryagain."Helen, please," I said, still on my knees at the kitchen table,wondering if we should adjourn to the living room, where there wererugs and soft chairs. "I want to help you. If you want to get even,that's what I want too. I want us to be the way we were. Tell me howI can help." Even to myself I sounded oily, and I decided I had to bemore sincere. Really.