But maybe we'd better get started on the loading here or we're not going to get back at all."As always, it was late when they got back, and with the s...orter days it got dark sooner. Michelle was waiting for them, of course, and Jerry was there again. Michelle had also called Norma and Barbie over from Northern Arizona University, and this time had flushed out a couple of the high school kids who had run on tryouts with Team 1 or 2 over the summer -- Crystal being new, Team 3 had avoided that. We met with the parents first and found they were loving, but ready for Ava to marry and leave home. I talked with Josiah about how an energetic teenager could wear a person down and wear a man out. Still, she was adorable, and we both wanted her. Ava’s parents gave us permission to talk with her alone. Ava’s mom said, “We’ve called her ‘Tigger’ since she was a very little girl. When you’ve had a chance to get to know Ava, you’ll see why.”When we were alone with Ava, we immediately saw what her. Into to Sissies XXIJohn poked herself in the eye. It hurt and she sat up from its sting,waking.There was an itch on her lid and she had scratched it, but in sleep,had forgotten the length of her red talons. In his dreams, theyweren't there. Except sometimes. His dreams oscillated. Colorful,they were, and mismatched. Sometimes he was a blue whale, gobblinglittle fishes with teeth, all of whom had bitten at him and now hewas chasing them, swallowing them almost whole and champing at themwith red. She headed toward her seat and got out her towel. Then she looked in my direction, and her face fell. She didn't have her earlier looks of hatred or condescension. She looked sad, and a little afraid. With maybe a touch of shame.I wondered what that was about. There was so much to choose from. What her mother did. What she did in the locker room. The possibility of being prosecuted for that. What she put those two boys up to. What she did to them afterwards. What she said in front of the.