"Are there any other questions before you go to the showers and turn in for the night?" she asked. The girls had already eaten their dinner in the main dining hall shortly after their arrival and in another hour at the most she would be free of them. She wondered if June was finished with her group yet and was already waiting for her in bed in the cabin they shared. Whether she knew it or not, Pat thought, June was in for a hot lovemaking session that night. She could feel the need inside her growing stronger with each passing moment.

"Are you going to sleep with us?" one of the youngest girls asked, in a voice that sounded ready to break into sobs at any second.

"No, honey," Pat smiled with tenderness. "I have a little cabin of my own that I share with another Big Sister. It's very close to the large cabin where you girls will sleep, though, so don't be afraid of anything. I'll be close by, if you need me." Her eyes couldn't help straying in Mimsy Colberg's direction as she uttered the last words.

"Why can't you sleep with us?" the frightened girl sobbed.

"Because Mrs. Marchant wants you to develop a sense of being on your own," she explained, adding for Roxanne's benefit, "Under our supervision, of course, when necessary."

"But I've never slept in the woods before!" the girl cried, as tears began to run down both cheeks.

"What if a bear comes in our cabin during the night?" another of the younger girls sobbed.

"Or a snake?" a third chorused.

Sensing that in another minute she'd have full-scale panic on her hands and it would be hours before she could settle the girls down and get back to June, Pat quickly assumed her authoritative air.

"Don't act like such little babies!" she snapped. "The youngest of you must be at least twelve years old to be at this camp in the first place and when I was twelve I was already acting like a young lady. The next thing I know, you'll be crying because you don't have your doll baby or your teddy bear to cuddle up with when you go to sleep."