“Is Chris back?”“It was empty when I got here,” he says. “By the looks of it, you two had a great time.”“Oh, more than a great time,” ...she confesses.He helps Rory to her feet. His hands reach for her, teasing up her arms, over her shoulders to her collarbone. “I haven’t seen excited like this from you in a while.” He shrugs. “Well, with someone other than me.”“That’s because it’s hard to find anyone that come close to measuring up to you,” she informs him, shivering from his light touch.Moving. Now he’s got Momma trying to feed him.”“It’s that skinny-assed body of his, all skin and bones. They all figured he’s so skinny they just have to feed him.”Jerry looked at the two young Blacks with amusement. No one had ever called him skinny before and he doubted that anyone would ever again. Shaking his head, he said, “I’ll come. Let me clean up before I come over there.”“Oh, no! He’s gonna get clean before comin’ over. Must want to impress Momma!” The teasing tone in Abe’s voice let everyone. "With Aunty's apparent rejection of my appearance as a girl, I beganfeeling foolish, if not a bit humiliated. For a moment, I had loved howI looked; now Aunty's reactions brought doubt into my mind and I beganfeeling worthless and ridiculous. I suddenly began to cry."Oh Emmy, don't cry dear," Naomi said, rushing to my side and hugging me,handing me a tissue."No, dear, please understand that I was not criticizing you," Aunty beganto explain. "I was just worried about what your parents . . .. Gloria liked being strong and hard. She was getting extremely butch these days! But she still looked feminine. Her three opponents had all been plain and even ugly. "Beauty and The Beast" had been how yesterday's fight had been billed.She relived the crowd's reaction after she had felled the Beast, and Beauty had stood over the fallen woman, with her foot on her stomach! She loved performing and playing to the crowd! Fighting to please a crowd was a million times better than her private.