.", he pauses to breath heavily, "I don't care if you are or not, I've watched your little ass tease me long enough". I couldn't remember ever teasing...him but if I did I was starting to wish I hadn't. My mouth opened to tell him I didn't mean to but nothing would come out. My silence and worried look spurred him on, "your mother didn't understand my need, she wouldn't except me. She's gone now so I can use want I want now", he squeezed even more and jerked me up by my neck. "You're gonna be my. You know how Mrs. Meyer is sometimes, she can be alittle intimidating." Yes she can. Would you like to dress as Amanda?" I don't know, Mom, but I guess I would sometimes. I hadn't thought ofbeing Amanda while Dad's been in the hospital, but when I dressed thismorning, I did miss being a girl."Mom was silent again. We were almost to the Carquinez Bridge before Momspoke again."Mark, if you'd like, I'll allow you to be a girl now and then. You haveto see who you want to be and if you're really a. Then I turned back to the people in my office.John McCain spoke first. “If this thing wimps out, you are going to look like a five-star horse’s ass!”I nodded wryly at him. “John, I am going to look like an ass regardless. I am going to get the personal blame for not stopping a hurricane, no matter what. That’s fine. That’s why I get the big bucks. The difference is whether I look like a horse’s ass with a few hundred people dead, or with a few thousand people dead. Wait until the levees break. "I'd written a few silly words like "Red" and "Pineapple" on the board,and drawn an ugly picture of a cat. Satisfied, I walked back to my seatand sat down. I shivered a little bit. It was kind of cold in here.Thankfully, one of the researchers chose that moment to walk back intomy little waiting room. He smiled at me. Yung? Was that his name? Igave him a small smile back."Is the experiment going to start soon? I'm getting bored just waitinghere." Sure, just a few questions first. Is that.