It begins at the moment of birth, something unconscious, uncontrolled.

The half-climbed world of sleep, soothing, amusing, sometimes terrifying, and on the

rarest of occasions, unconsciously, deadly. Sleep, love, sex, what is a person capable

of without even knowing it?

Such a beautiful place, Catalina, such a perfect evening for escapist dreams, an island

of interest with a younger man. Her name was Eva, and she was exotic, lovely, magnetic,

and 42. Eva was always living like she was 22, carefree, very young for her age. She was

fun, and she was generous, and she light up a room. She's the person you call, and no matter

what, you always feel better for what she had to say. She told her niece, Lanelle Piro,

about the young man, Stephen was just 25. Not that it mattered. I guess he'd come over

to the house one day. Came to hang out with Eva's son, who made the introductions.

I remember she called me and told me that she met this really nice guy. He's really good

looking, you know. It was instant chemistry. He was obviously attracted to her, who wouldn't

be. She's dropped-ed gorgeous. She had an enormous capacity to love people, and people

are drawn to her. There was 17 years age difference, so she was the ultimate cougar.

Stephen worked sporadically at a variety of odd jobs, sometimes even at sea as a commercial

fisherman. Eva was a thrice-married and separated, former flight attendant. Why do I keep thinking

of that Cindy Lopper song, girls? Just want to have fun? That was us. That was definitely

us, yes. April Bowsarth was Eva's friend and flying companion back at the airline, a

kind of magic time for both of them. Everywhere we went, people would just be drawn to

her. She just had a presence about her that was just fun-loving, you know, very welcoming.

She would give you the shirt off of her back. But as April came to understand, Eva could

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