"Where have you been, my precious darling? I thought school had dismissed hours and hours ago."
"Uh, I got a bite afterward. Mom said there wouldn't be dinner." The girl blinked toward the bridge table.
"Something nice?" Eleanor Warden glanced up from computing points from the last go-around. "I've heard of a lovely bean curd and stir-fry vegetable place down by your school."
"Yes," Jan's mother remarked. "That area's becoming terribly commercial. A video store seduces students on their way home."
"I dropped off the Naughty Victorians tape on the way to class," the girl reported. Her gaze kept wandering to Cheslyn Warden, standing face to the wall in the corner by the TV set. The backs of her hands still pressed against her leg tops and her bottom.
"What did you eat, dear?" Aunt Tilly
