P." Penny's eyes lit up when she heard another boy had been talking about her."Hi, Jimmy. Pleased to meet you", she said."Hello, Penny", Jimmy said, t...rying not to stare at her titty ring, obviously embarrassed because I told Penny he wanted to meet her. I felt a little bad, but that's what he gets for walking in just as Penny and I were starting to play.Jimmy pulled out a small box wrapped up in red paper and a big bow. "Karen told me you might be coming over. Here. It's just something...", he. Count down the seconds until the sharp, awful pain? or try to think about something else?Don't think about the needles. About waiting for them. About the cold, clinical smell of the alcohol pad.Don't let the fear build. Only a few seconds of pain. That's all it will be.Don't panic and thrash uselessly in the tight, carefully-fastened restraints. Don't cry and feel the horriblness of the foam ball preventing any protests.Tick.Tick.Tick.Don't count the minutes. Forty-six of them. Forty-six times. Things that Yolanda now considered "babyish".Maybe someone had done this to her. Maybe someone had planted pumpkin seeds coated with faerie dust in her soup, maybe she had a pumpkin growing in her right now; or worse a squirrel. She was sure she could remember some tale were a malignant faerie had; no this was silly. She didn't have a squirrel or pumpkin growing inside her, but there was some magic here she didn't understand.Quite where the thought came from Yolanda couldn't say. One minute her. In return I replied, hoping to communicate with the creature. It was reassuring, in a strange way, that he was obviously capable of doing me violence, for he chose not to. “Salutations and a good evening to you, kind sir.”The formal language of a life almost forgotten sounded strange upon my tongue, and yet strangely calming. I could simply pretend that this was a chance encounter while taking a leisurely stroll through the streets of London.Again, the cat-like being spoke, and again, the.