He wiped the tears from under her eyes with his thumbs, smiling gently. Reaching into his front pocket, he pulled out a long trail of bright red silk ...ibbon. He wrapped it around her hair, tying it deftly into a bow and then moving the bow so that it lay just above her left ear. The girl, sobs racking her form, tried to hold still for him. She prayed silently through her tears, begging God to help her. When her captor moved away once more, she prayed that he would leave, that he would go away. At some point, she sat on a bench, took out another balled-up pair of dirty, crusty socks, and rubbed them on Maya’s nose.Maya whined and panted, loving the concentrated smell of her owner, making her feel warm and taken care of.Sonia threw them, and Maya ran and fetched them for her, dropping them at her feet. Sonia was delighted. She loved how far she could take Maya. If she’d ever thought of her as her friend, that day ended it. She was nothing more than a toy for her to play with, that. We can get herdressed now. You are now in my dress studio and Tiffany and I are goingto get you ready for your first photo shot." At the time I was still restrained and I could tell that the nerve agenthad worn off some, but that was to change. Sasha came up from behind andonce again administered another shot, telling me that this one was againfull of female hormones along with the nerve agent."In the next few days," she stated, "I would expect you to begin tonotice some soreness and swelling. IT was the one thing I didn’t care for; I wished it was longer. But she wouldn’t hear of it.“Perhaps I better. No freeloaders in this house,” I say. “I’ll see you downstairs.”I throw on a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt, then head downstairs. The sound of the television greets me as I walk into the living room. Both Elise (eight) and Ben (eleven) are sitting on the floor, folding laundry. They’re good kids-at least most of the time. Bens’ father had been killed in an accident shortly after.