I’ll wait until the music comes on my clock radio at 7before I get up and carefully cross the room to mydressing table, where I’ve left th...e key to myhandcuffs. Only then will I be able to remove thetight, padded satin blindfold which has kept me in thecozy, warm darkness long past the rising of the sun.Now begins the morning ritual of undressing completelyfor the bath. First the long, billowy Victoriannightgowns, with their acres of soft, shiny silk; next,the task of unlacing the. There was only one customer and Gene asked if I wanted a shot. I shook my head no and asked if it was okay if I went in and lay down. On his nod I went into the storeroom and collapsed on the cot. I realized later my body was totally worn out. It was a strange night. A vision of ‘little girl in the dirt,’ came to me, but somehow different. She had a ‘Mona Lisa’ smile on her face. Later the face was Annie’s on the emaciated little girl body. By that time I was half delirious. The next morning,. .The low conversation between Oscar and Hebe in the front seats lulled me into a doze even before we got off the bridge, while Persephone tapped away at her phone and Rick stared out the window. I slept almost all the way to the farm. I was sweating a little when I woke up. The Jeep's air-conditioning wasn't up to the challenge of Valley heat.As we got close to the farm entrance I caught sight of Harry standing a little ways back from the road in the orchard, close to his property line. He gave. Smarter animals cooperate, sometimes even with other species, and invent elaborate and effective ways to get what they want, like industrial agriculture, animal husbandry and algal farming. Everybody profits: the evolutionary success of cows and dogs, once they had become useful to men, had been amazing. As a species, they had gotten a great deal.Pearl simply had to become useful to the quadro. But how could she be even more useful than she was, she thought. It was already taking everything it.