"I was the same with my parents when I hadmy operation. I'd hoped..." So had I," I smiled. "But Maya's father is an uneducated Neanderthal. Hehas neve... come round to the idea that his son is now his daughter."C.J came in. "Didn't Maya try to..." She did." I shook my head. "He didn't want to listen. But it's hisloss." Always the peacemaker," C.J said with a smile. "Does she know he'shere?" Yes," I said. "She actually asked him to come." I shrugged. "I do knowit's not to mend any fences."Maya let. ” He let out a snort. “What’s your problem with her?” I don’t know why I asked; I didn’t care. “I don’t have a problem with Kinsey.” Happily, he stopped dragging his words out. “Then why do you always fuss about her?” I jumped. He had silently moved from his room to my doorway. Seeing him there made me slightly claustrophobic; he was just so big, he dwarfed everything. At sixteen he was almost 6’5"; add broad shoulders and long arms and it felt like a giant was stalking its prey. I knew he was. The lift started moving, and she lurched against him. He grasped her arm, and she leaned against him, too exhausted to even protest.Kayla and George had pleaded with, threatened, and berated her for hours, and she had not uttered a single word. It was all Aaron could do to allow the interrogations to continue, and he’d had little sleep and nothing to eat in the last day. He held her close to him, and tried to swallow the lump in his throat.The lift stopped, and Luisa lifted her head. She was. ~Henry Cate, VII~We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office~Aesop~If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these State of the Union speeches, there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven.~Will Rogers~Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.~Nikita Khrushchev~When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.~Clarence Darrow~Why pay money to have your family.