“Hey, you ok?” She asked.“Yeah. I’m just thinking about what all she gave up raising me.” He told her. “I’m glad she’s finally taking ...time for herself.”Talitha reached over the seat and squeezed his shoulder. “Can I offer you some motherly insight?” She asked him.“Sure...” he replied.“Your mom did not sacrifice anything while you were growing up. Trust me, I know.” She told him. “Before this project started, watching Adele and Abigail grow was the most wonderful and rewarding thing in my life.. Any human being, gay or straight, would have to admit she's just a perfect ... I don't know." Specimen?" I said."That's the word I was looking for," Lauren said, clapping her hands."Gotcha," I said.We sat for about a minute in awkward silence after that, but then Lauren brought up something else and the Leah incident was forgotten.*****The next week was uneventful. Well, when it came to Leah, at least.I made sure to give Lauren amazing sex every night, hoping somehow it made her more. "It's great to have a girl my age next door," said Lana, as the two teenagers walked to her house. Claire was only half listening, distracted as she was by the new sensation of a skirt swirling around her legs. It was a strange feeling, but also kind of...nice."Let's try out a recipe I heard over the radio," said Lana, as theyreached her house. Cooking was not something Claire particularlywanted to do, but then she knew she would be expected to like doing different things than she used to now. I held her shoulder and said, "Tell me what you remember."In fits and starts with a lot of tears, she let it out."Gram saw it was dark and called me inside. Then the lights went out and we could hear a loud whooshing noise, like the wind was picking up something awful. The house rocked a little bit, and Gram made me get into the back closet and told me she'd be right back."Covering her ears and lowering her head, she continued, "I kept hearing howling and things banging off the side of the.