”We lay silently for a couple of minutes, caressing each other. Robert was not growing flaccid, butremained firm. In fact, I thought I felt him begi... to stiffen a bit as he occasionally moved in and out ofme ever so slightly.“Mom, if you got pregnant, what would you do?”“What do you mean, baby?”“Would you end the pregnancy?”Now that was a heavy question. I decided to be completely open about this issue. This might be anopportunity for a moral lesson here. I recognized the absurdity of that. 'I'm a naughty girl' This was met with another sharp slap across her bottom. 'No, wrong answer. You are a VERY - NAUGHTY - LITTLE - GIRL aren't you?' The words 'very naughty little girl' were punctuated by slaps across each bare bottom cheek. 'I am a very naughty little girl' This still wasn't good enough for Dorm Mother, as she leaned close to Wendy and whispered menacingly in her ear. 'I am a very naughty little girl, Dorm Mother. Now, say it again!' 'I am a very naughty little girl, Dorm. Is that OK, Col?”“That’s fine, Lili. See you then.”We watched them run back to the car through the rain and then returned to our usual position on the sofa.“If the weather is fine tomorrow, should we show Lili our secret garden?”I felt a twinge of something at sharing that place with Lili. What was that – jealousy, fear?“Willi?”I took a deep breath and then let it out, watching Col’s face. “It’s our special place, Col.”“I know, Willi, but isn’t Lili your friend as well, now? We should trust her. It was from Lao Tzu and the exact quote was ‘ The Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step ‘. Kelly knew she’d remember that for the rest of her days. It wasn’t going to be an easy trek — Reagan hadn’t thought things through and the nearly-16 year old had little money. Her slightly-more frugal sister had some, but not enough for them to survive on for any length of time. Luckily, it was summer and both girls were willing to work. They traveled to Brighton and Dover and sold Ice Cream,.