I quietly went in to my room and slipped into the closet to have a look at my sister. She had changed into an older workout set of leotards that were... all red and a bit faded, but she looked like an angel. She was practicing her balance beam routine and had been stretching it seemed because I could see the glow of her damp skin reflecting off the lights in the room. She stopped for a minute with her hands on her hips and took a minute to catch her breath it seemed – just staring into the. James had already arrived on the scene, and I harbored vague notions of using the money to fund his education.Oddly enough -- or maybe not so much -- I was able to keep all this from Shelly. She wasn't much of a reader; and she never really knew how much I made, as her father had always insisted she file her yearly tax returns as married-filing-separately. Just his way of controlling his little girl, and keeping me out of his precious loop.Now that all the threads are in place, it's time to. Leroy put his hands on her shoulder and rubbed her shoulders and back. As he massaged her shoulders, he sang an old hymn. That and his touch eased her tension. She looked at Leroy, “How can such animals exist?”“You insult animals by comparing those monsters to them. The kids need some food. See if you can find something here to feed them. You don’t have to go back down there.”The nurse hugged Leroy and said, “Thanks.”“You’re welcome.”Ed had watched the interaction between Leroy and the nurse. Terry burned a card and turned up the Q of spades. I suppressed a groan and did my best not to show how much that card scared me. I was reasonably sure my dad had been playing Qx, which meant he had me beat, and the chances I’d bluff him off trips at the final table were zero.“Check,” I said, though I might as well have mucked my cards.“$1000,” Matthew announced.That made me wonder if he’d decided his stack was big enough to draw for a straight or a flush. I didn’t think he was bluffing, and I.