"Wait. On second thought, you take off all those wet clothes right here."

"But Mom, I just wanna get my raincoat. I'm going right back out. I'm late already because I had to run all the way home for the raincoat."

"You're not going anywhere soaked to the bone," Alice said. "Your newspapers can wait. In fact, I want you to get in the bathtub and warm up before you get dressed."

"But Mom, I might get fired if I'm late. I'll lose my paper route."

"If you get fired for delivering late on a day like this, then they can have their old route. You don't need a paper route, anyway. Your father gives you an allowance each week worth what you'd make on twenty paper routes."

"But I like it, Mom. I just like being a paperboy."

Alice shook her head. "All right, paperboy. You can go out and deliver, just as soon as you warm up and get on some dry clothes."

The boy groaned, but he undressed as she'd asked, keeping his back to her. His teeth chattered, and his skinny body shook all over. The water beaded on his tanned back and rolled down like water off the back of a duck. As he peeled off his pants, he revealed skin that was shockingly white in contrast to his deeply tanned torso.

"Get up into the bathtub," Alice said. "You're on the verge of hypothermia."

"What?"

"Just get up there." Alice followed her naked son down the plushly carpeted hall way and up the carpeted stairs. Her eyes never left his flexing little asscheeks.

She hadn't seen any of her sons naked in a long time. Ricky was still a boy, still completely hairless, but there was something about the shape of his body that hinted of manhood. Maybe it was a hint of muscles about to sprout, or a slight wideness of his shoulders and upper back in contrast to his boyish hips. Whatever it was, Alice found herself wanting to see more of the boy.

She followed him into the bathroom. "Get under the shower. Quick."