"It's his fault anyone ever saw them," Chris protested defensively. "He broke into my private storeroom." What did he say?" I asked, excited at the th...ought of my young son looking at such a sexual representation of his Mum."He was more worried about his, about the size of his... you know." Penis?" I supplied, incredulous that a women who could produce such graphic work was still shy about using the word penis in front of her sister."Yes," she grinned back."God, did you make him as small as. "No," I said. The mystery was clearing a little, leaving only my reputation among friends murky. "Well, whenever they came out of the dryer I had to reclaim them, and then the girls got a little silly, and whenever my lacy things were peeled off the pile they'd say 'Here, this must be Don's too,' and we'd laugh and giggle. I'm sure they think we share everything." Why didn't you explain to them?" Honey, why should I? I could see their attitudes toward you changing, right before my eyes! . " But Derek wouldn't bite, and soon, Guinness-less, the three of them were on their way.Next, Paul came over to let us know that he and Natalie were leaving, as well. "If it were up to me, we'd stay," Paul explained, sounding a little annoyed. "But Natalie says it's too chilly up here in the mountains, and she wants to head home." I give that relationship two more months, max," Dave said to me the moment Paul was out of earshot."I don't know," I said in reply. "Sometimes I think Paul is so. It wasn’t an arrangement either of us liked, but that’s the way it was. Lara said she would rather sleep in the car, but my parents threatened to lock her out of it. I guess they hoped that sticking us together might create some communication between us. I thought it was unlikely, and as we lay in our sleeping bags that first night, Lara was as distant as ever. Oddly, I felt like reaching out to her again. But when I mentioned how cool the river looked, she just grunted in reply. I doubted that.