Damn him, anyway! She was actually fifteen minutes older than he was and looked at least two years younger, an aggravating delusion that for some unknown reason had led him to believe he could "big-brother" it over her, and even worse, she'd found herself giving in to his domination the past year. No one ever took them for twins anymore; although they resembled each other closely, were blond-haired and fair-skinned, Lee's near-six feet in height and strong, athletic build, had advanced her own kid-sister feeling.

She stopped currying, her thoughts distracting her once again. It was actually difficult for her to accept the change that'd come over Lee since Tucson… they had been so close at thirteen… But then, she had only to remember Peggy Farnum, her Danny's sister, to realize she had the basic answer. Perhaps, it was only that childish affliction that adults are wont to call "puppylove", but whatever it was, the four of them had enjoyed an ardent case of it… until they'd moved… then had come the disillusionment and loneliness to breed little animosities and confused defiance.

Daddy had been so proud, she remembered. He'd gotten the appointment as Bank Manager of the Breynar branch of Saguaro National Bank and Trust Co., that beautiful suburb of Phoenix… and nothing had been the same since…!

Gallant Red whinnied once more, jarring her from a state of rapidly growing moroseness.

"Okay… you're right, Darling," she said, reaching up to tweak the great horse's ear. "I shouldn't bring my problems to my beautiful loves… but there wasn't any damned reason for Lee to make a fuss because I smoked my second stick of grass. God, you'd think he was my guardian or something," she went on, as if her pets could understand her. "He made such an issue of it that I actually ran out of there… and that disgusting Larry Beehman… the whole evening, trying to get his hands up my dress… though, I can't help wondering what he'd ever do if I decided to let him…!"