"So," said Caroline as she grabbed my left hand and walked me inside, "is this a social call or is Bill right? Do you have an ulterior motive?"Even af...ter the time I'd had, and was still having, over the last few weeks one of Caroline's direct questions could still embarrass me. "I'm afraid so Caroline, the two of you appear to know me well enough."She led me into the kitchen, sat me down and produced a glass of orange juice before she said, "I also know you well enough to know that you're not. Her ability to endure more unbridled adulation of her fawning subjects long since exhausted, Ayeka finally sought relative peace and sanctity in her chambers. She bore no ill will, did not fault the common folk their desire to see, to speak and even attempt touching her! After all, they were her subjects and she, their new queen. Still clad in her flowing gown, Ayeka found the relative quiet of the terrace to her massive bedroom comforting."No..." She thought smiling, not hers, theirs! For. She looked to be all of about 14 or so, but you can’t always tell. Every time I looked in her direction, she was smile in a shy way and lower her gaze so as not to stare back. When they got ready to leave I heard her mom call her Amber. She gave me a little wave as they drove off. Their car needed a new exhaust system from the catalytic converter to the tail pipe. When I called to let the man know, Amber answered the phone. I told her I was Mechanic Ray from the garage and that I had needed to. I don’t want to even think about why he did that,’ she said, smiling. ‘Did what?’ Marc asked, sleepily. ‘Um, Jane says her lullaby got you hard?’ Marc suddenly woke up. ‘Yeah, I guess it did.’ ‘Um, you wanna talk about it?’ Paula teased. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Did your mama used to sing to you?’ Jane teased. Marc looked at her but did not answer. He was not sure why she asked. ‘C’mon, Marc. You can tell us. Did your mamma’s lullabies excite you when you were an itty-bitty baby?’ ‘I don’t think.