Tears were tracing down both our cheeks, and our sides ached.On the next deal, there was no passing of any cards. We had to play the cards we were dea...t, and I had a loser of a hand. I ended up with the queen, which put a smile on Jake's face."Okay, Seanster, what's it to be?" he asked."Truth," I said.Jaimie jumped in with the question."Have you ever made out with a girl and done anything beyond kissing?" she asked with a big grin.Here it is. I knew that, if I lost any more hands, I would have. Wouldn't a sibling have more influence than a parent?" Even a younger sibling? Opposite sex?" Karin probed."I think, Karin, that our family breaks some stereotypes. Bud would normally be either the bratty pest or the effective first offspring to an older sister." What did you say your degree was in, Ed?" Criminal justice. No offense, Karin, but on the force, being a psychologist is often a matter of survival." No offense taken, and no argument offered, Ed. I see where Bud gets his smooth. I spitefully spoke out, "I'll tell him it's his. And I will name her what we always planned if she's a girl." He threw my hair out of his hand, and instantly punched me in the back of head pretty hard. Hard enough to make me black out momentarily and "see stars". He pulled out and turned me around with ease. Unlike my new boyfriend who was very similar to my size, I was half the size of Max, he often called me his "little fairy". I was crying, bruised and bleeding, and terrified. I couldn't. This is what being a father was all about. It only took a few seconds of actual parenting to undo all the psychopathic eugenics that Dr. Rachel Finklestein had been subjecting her daughter to. “I’ll go get them,” I said.“While you do that I’ll go get my Halloween costume to show you.”A few minutes later I had returned downstairs with some of Sherry’s old books. Becky was probably too old for most of them, but it was obvious she had missed a lot of her childhood. She appeared again, her frizzy.