" Why can't you take me now?" As close as you are, your body is resilient. It clings strongly to what you will be losing. Perhaps you are not ready to... leave things behind just yet, no?"The figure stood up."Do you wish to go for a walk?"He looked up, and before he could say yes, he was walking alongside the figure. Through a park. The rain was still coming down, lightly, and the autumn colours showed on the trees. He stuck his hands in his pockets."Any reason why this is taking so long? I mean,. ??Honey, I don?t want to threaten you. I simply found it fascinating,that?s all. Imagine, starting out a whole new adventure! The things youcould discover. Particularly, from my point of view, the personal styleyou could discover. You would not have to be a product of Grandma?sgifts and mall store sales and peer pressure. The possibilities! It islike you are a blank slate upon which a sensitive creative artist coulddraw. Would you be willing to partner with me? I swear I will not try totalk you. .. as moreand more people drew nearer to watch. By the time Mel started wrappingthe pink laces of his toe shoes around his ankles, the people werepressed shoulder to shoulder just a few feet away from them all around.Chad didn't even want to think about how many people were now watchinghim all too closely. And once again he remembered the stupid pacifierin his mouth and felt all too embarrassed and stupid about it - as ifthe rest of what he was wearing wasn't bad enough!After his toe shoes,. I wanted to give her a warm meal and a place to sleep. I honestly intended for her to sleep on the couch. We started talking, and, as they say, one thing led to another. When I woke up in the morning, she was gone. I never saw her again. I still think about her sometimes."As was normal these days, Sophia found half a dozen private messages waiting in her inbox when she signed on. Most of them were continuations of correspondences. There was one that was from someone whom she'd never heard.