Realizing that Hannah had possibly made her choice was driving him close to the edge, and he was nervous at the prospect of watching the big man ravag...e his wife. He turned around, sipping at the water while tapping the ashes off of his cigarette, and lifted his gaze to the TV up in the corner behind the bar. There was never anything good on in a bar, but apparently this one was different, and Joel watched a few minutes of what looked like a televised tattooing competition as he finished his. I didn't mention anything to him, of course and neither did he (I really didn't know whether he had opened the card or not at that point).The spring and summer came and went, it was now early September and my Dad kept his silence on things for the past nine months.Right after Christmas, I had met this guy at work whose grandfather owned a huge farm about twenty miles from our house. His grandfather had recently been placed in a nursing home, so the farm was vacant. During one of our many. Never the same hotel twice. One of their few rules.He found he could turn his head a little, not that it mattered with the collar roped on both sides to the top of the bedposts. Not to mention the way the stiff leather around his neck, all six inches of it, cupped his chin so he had to stare at the ceiling.And he truly regretted buying that oversized ball gag, now that he had had ample opportunity to sample its effects on his own jaw.Victory was often a matter of opinion. Especially when you. The sentencehanded down to me by the judge eight years ago had mentioned nothingabout being forced to become a girl. I could bargain-I would willinglygive up any compensation that I could get in exchange for being set freeon probation.I had no mobile phone with me and even if I did have one it could haveled anyone who was tracking it straight to me. I took a few coins from mywhite leather handbag and dialled my boyfriend's number with shakingfingers. He answered after a few rings of the phone..