" Well. Thanks." Course, when I see what you got, I weel judge for myself. Sometime, even Manuel, you know? He can be full of sheet, like anybody. Not... so much, as most people. But, hey, eet can hoppen, you know?" Not this time," I told him, with more confidence than I really felt. "From you, I need to learn how to be a pitcher. In game situations. I am very much a novice, it is true. But I can throw. I have a slider that is getting better. I have a change-up. And I throw hard." No curve ball?. "He was just some guy who helped me get away from home. My mom died a few years ago," she bit down on her lower lip, "and when I turned seventeen, that was three months ago, my dad came into my bedroom and told me that at seventeen a girl turns into a woman, and that her father should be the first to take her. He told me that was so she wouldn't be lured away by the first young stud with a hard on. Well ... He ... He tried to rape me." She paused momentarily as if recalling a horrid incident. "She just realized what she said, and realized that she hadn't talked to you about it. I think that she's a little worried."A filtered subset of the torrent of emotions that Caleb sensed, just below the surface of his contact with JJ, rose to the surface, and Caleb understood what Al was saying.Collette Parker looked like an older version of JJ. A well preserved version. Her hair was the same light brown, but cut shorter than JJ's. Her freckles weren't as pronounced, but were still there. She. Mother always cooked like this of Fridays. This is the only day of the week that Father would come home early from work and the only time where I can converse with him.It's quiet in the kitchen at this time. Mother and Father isn't on good terms right now. The absence of Father from the home worried Mother. She would come up with the most rational reasons in both positive and negative worlds to why he was at work so often. Last week wasn't so great. Mother got so worried when Father didn't show.