" Said the male voice across the line."Uncle Dave? This is Bill. Do you have a moment?" He said into the phone, fearful of the response."What do you w...ant?" the surliness could be felt as a palatable force, even transmitted across phone wires.'And people wonder why I hate these damn things.' He thought before saying "Uncle Dave. It's been ten years. Let's not go through this again. Since grandpa's death, you have been blaming me for losing your father. Let's just say it straight. He was a. I try to nodmy foggy head yes and you seem to understand. You then open yourshirt and pull out a metallic red dragon pendant. It is verylovely. You hand it to Master Buck, who takes it into anotherroom. I try to turn and look at what he is doing but MadameClarissa roughly pulls my hair forcing me back into a positionwhere she can work on my hair. She is putting it in tightrollers oblivious to my pain as she wraps my hair past the pointof comfort. When Madame Clarissa is done she pours a. It must, I thought, some kind of organic material; protein? What made it sticky? Some kind of dissolved carbohydrate? I didn't know. Maybe you could live off it, I mused.Suddenly, Tammy dropped to her knees and began frantically searching the bench for another droplet, her face scanning back and forth, only inches from the surface. However, there were no more large drops. She spied a tiny little drop, and was trying to figure out how to scoop it onto her finger, but it was way too small.. Closing her eyesfast as she tries to assimilate this into her head, thoughts swirling, tryingto remember the past night, having no concept of the time, or how long shelay on the smooth floor sleeping, if that is what it was she had been doing. Slowly the past few days coming back to her, herbreath catching in her chest, the sound loud in the thick silence of the blackroom, keeping her eyes closed tightly, somehow strangely comforted by the feelingof them shut, moving to curl onto her side and.