My only real friends were those with parts of their unborn twin siblings sticking out of them. They traveled with the freak show because they were pow...rless to live in the outside world free of condemnation or torment. Their unique talents allowed them to enjoy the pleasures their bodies gave them and the power over those who paid handsomely to enjoy them in private. It was all the power they had until they returned to our town, and I chose to empower them with what I had. We all benefitted. Normally a little ticklish, all I could feel was this trail of heavenly sensation emanating from her fingers and they moved along my body. I could feel my muscles relaxing and my body felt like it was sinking into the couch. Gloria slid her arms out from under mine and then started running her fingers up and down my arms. "So, how are you doing?" I tried lifting my hand to give a thumbs up sign, but found my arms were like driftwood… felt like they were floating on the couch and couldn't. She gave him directions to the condo after they agreed on the time he should pick her up. She was ready to hang up before she informed him Gerry hadn’t made it back yet. *** It had been a long weekend preceded by a really bad week. ‘Well,’ Helen temporized, not wanting to feel overly dramatic, ‘it was unsettling.’ After Gerry left her with a broken car, in a strange town, among total strangers Duncan had come to the rescue like a knight of old. ‘Maybe I should say,’ she temporized, ‘sort of. "So," Susan asked. "What's been happening with you?" Not a lot," Megan sighed. "I'm actually starting to look forward to being back in school. It's been boring all summer, but it's been really boring this week. I thought I'd hear from you before this. What have you been doing?" Mostly working down at the paper," Susan told her. "There's been some running around to do, too. It turns out that I'm going to be taking some classes down at Riverside, so that had to get set up." There was no point,.