Okay, if there was guile, she hid it well. I looked past her and saw Tina's amused smile."It's gonna take us all a while to get used to each other. Be... happy."Terri swung her head around to look at Tina. "I am happy. I mean, I worry about Momma, but I'm very happy to be here. You know what I mean."I arched an eyebrow.Tina revealed the missing element. "I know, baby. You wanted to come with us after Christmas, but we just can't do that without your mom's okay. Or it's a big mess and a lot of. Why not pick on someone your own size?” This was a foolish, schoolboy comment, the kind he had said to McClintock or Foodle when they bullied an ‘oikling’ (the school term for a first year). He realised then that they could not even pick on him, they were several chest sizes bigger than him; his one claim to possible salvation was that their waist size was similarly much larger than his. They were, and here he surprised himself by thinking clearly in the micro-seconds that were ticking past. He made the connection, and waited while it rang, and rang. He was about to shout his phone when Ebenezer came on. "Hello?" This was extremely terse for a normally gregarious man. George spoke: "Ebenezer. George Montford here. I missed seeing you at the Frederickson wedding. Are you all right, sir?"Ebenezer sounded panicky. "Not really, George. I am at the hospital. My lady friend tried to commit suicide today." Tried? ... I hope she will recover, Ebenezer. What happened to cause that?"I used. Perhaps she didn’t realize what she were, just too good for anyone. And here she was in my room, crushed with me in my arms. So, I thought what if this is not going to happen again. What if she changes her mind and doesn’t even talk to me tomorrow. What if she realizes that she could get any man to bow in front of her. What if she realizes that she is just too good for me.This feeling of insecurity allowed my animal instincts to take over and I wanted to have her before any of my thoughts.