At night the whole family would hear them arguing - it was hot and the windows would be open and we'd hear them going at each other, calling each othe...r every name under the sun. But it was only slowly that I learned just why the relationship wasn't good - or was it, perhaps, the result of their failing marriage. At first when I used to notice the curtains upstairs being drawn as soon as his wife had left for her clothes business in town, I assumed it was the husband, Lee, just taking a rest or. Most of the guests had left except for Louise and her secretary Edwina. The three of them were sitting quietly enjoying a cognac and chatting like old friends. Ross was a little drunk, then again so were his companions though he couldn't remember Louise drinking anything stronger than mineral water all night. As he sat next to Edwina on the couch, glancing out of the corner of his eye at her long legs, showing through the split in her evening dress, he wondered how long Louise would stay. . It was corny and old-fashioned, but it expressed her deepest longings.Prof awarded her an A-, and what mattered more, third place in the competition. She had won the opportunity to present her case before a national audience.Responses began to trickle in. The trickle became a flood. Beth had a stack of over 200 letters in front of her. All were from men who claimed to be dying to meet her... or, more accurately, dying to meet the woman she had represented herself as.Prof encouraged her to write. Peters let go and shoved me backward. I landed on my ass with my kneesout. He laughed and pulled something out from behind his back.Tossing it to me, he said, "Cover yourself you filthy bitch; we're alltired of seeing your nasty slit everytime we come up this way."The door slammed shut and I could hear him laughing as he walked away. Iundid what he had tossed to me and saw that it was a long skirt, tan incolor and slightly dirty, I remembered the whore who had left it on theisland a few months.