"Awww," Bob answered wearily, "I don't give a fuck if she does. You know that. It just bugs me, you know, when parents can't leave their Goddamn kids alone."

"Now, now," came the teasing voice behind him. "You're projecting again, Bobby boy. Not everybody has the ogres you had for parents, you know."

"Listen, doc, would you do me a favor? Take your freshman psychoanalyzing and shove it up your ass for me, would you do that, doc?" Bob said, and then turned to his friend, smiling, to show him he'd only been kidding. "Want to go have a swim?"

"No thank you, Bobby, never touch the stuff."

"Right. See you later then."

"And don't worry about Ann Walker. Who knows, we may not be losing a daughter at all, we may be gaining a mother."

Bob turned to him quizzically, and tried to define his meaning from his leering, hair-covered face.

"Just how, exactly, do you mean that, oh gracious leader?" Bob asked curiously.

"Oh, I don't know," the lewdly grinning man on the porch beamed down at him. "I just think that maybe Ann Walker likes our little utopia here, and we just might be able to… uhh… persuade her to stay."

"Well, if you can do that, baby, I'll have to hand it to you," Bob said skeptically, "because she's an iceberg, man, a real deep freeze."

"Icebergs melt, Bobby my boy, they finally melt."

"Well good luck, flame, you'll need it."

Bob laughed and turned away, and began walking slowly across the clearing. Hell, Moses is out of his fucking mind, he grinned to himself, but wouldn't that be a kick, though! Getting Lani's puritanical mother to join in on the community fun and games. Then he chuckled aloud. There was no way, not even Moses with all his talent would ever be able to crack this nut, he felt sure, though it was going to be out of sight watching him try!

***

Ann Walker watched with tears in her eyes as her young daughter stalked away from the tree they'd been sitting under, and disappeared into her cabin, slamming the door behind her. What did I do wrong, she asked herself, but she knew the answer very well.