With our expanded numbers we needed a bigger supply of meat to last us through the cold. It wouldn't be a problem, but the hunting and processing need...ed to be done.Firewood was big on the menu too. Living in a cave should help us out tremendously there, but it didn't negate the need completely. We also needed to do some logging. We had a working sawmill and we could use it during the winter when most other duties would be uncomfortable or impossible.Horse catching and training needed to go. I couldn't tell how she was taking all that I had said. I had a sinking feeling that I had shot myself in the foot with my need for honesty.With a sense of desperation, I finished, "Mary Kate, that first time I saw you, that rainy Saturday morning when I first looked in your eyes, something happened to me — something that had been hard and ugly broke or dissolved and I felt like I was falling into your eyes. I saw something change in you; you knew that you had done something to me."Letting go. I had been there a few times to see hookers and it was generally a safe place in the day time. I would think twice about going there at night though. I knocked on the door and a young black girl opened up. She was wearing a tight tank top with no bra, and booty shorts. She looked no older than a high school sophomore! my paranoia came creeping back in full force, I had to wonder if this was a sting operation. I walked in and we hugged. She was very friendly and present. We started chatting and. "She sniffled a little, and looked at me uncertainly as she asked "You think so?"I smiled, and assured her "I'm sure of it. The only way you won't get the chance to see them again is if YOU choose not to." Really?" Really" I told her.She didn't seem entirely sure, but a scan of her told me that she wanted to believe it. She was looking at me, and I nodded to her to confirm what I'd just said before checking her again to see if it helped. It did, but what really got my attention was her thought.