As the two women came into the house, Leighann’s husband, Dwayne, said hello to Whitney. Dwayne was the same age as Leighann and worked out regularl...y. He still had a six pack from college and a strong physique. He grabbed a drink from the kitchen and proceeded to the family room to watch TV. The ladies went to the kitchen and Leighann began applying makeup to Whitney. Leighann asked Whitney how everything was going. Whitney was frustrated with her boyfriend because he was always out of town, he. I’d only ever known one other like it. And she was—I cut off that train of thought before it started.But that smile was impossible to say no to.I waved at the chairs on the other side of the desk. “Be my guest.”The smile got wider still as she took the bag from her shoulder, dumped it on one empty chair and flopped herself down in another. “Thanks.”She put most of the papers she’d been clutching on the desk but held on to one small bundle, which was loosely held together with treasury tags. It. She was always a little on the heavy side anyway. It seemed that she just sat around doing nothing but eating and watching daytime telly. Worse than that she seemed to take little interest in her appearance. Even though she had put on weight her figure was still well rounded in all the right places. However she covered it up under baggy clothes, which were flecked with food stains. She began to smell quite strongly. Our sex life seemed to take a dive as well. Although she would let me have sex. Although this was a degree of pastoral care beyond what anyone expected, in a village beset by the trials of the miserable winter months and now dominated by women, children and the unfit Ptarmigan’s attention was very much welcomed. This was especially so on those occasions when despite Ivory’s best efforts the villagers had to mourn yet another death. Ivory was particularly distressed when two children expired within a day of each other. The population of the already sparsely populated.