Charlie turned into the alley that separated one house from another and allowed access to the back yards. His steps ringing out and echoing off the arched ceiling like distant bells. Despite the cold air, he felt warm and fulfilled, his face twisted into a smug self-satisfied grin. Annie had been difficult to soothe, her temper as fiery and uncontrollable as her long red hair. He had walked her back to her rented rooms listening to the tirade of abuse until it dissolved away as he knew it would. She couldn’t stay angry with him for long. He had learned through experience to let her rant and rave, while he listened in silence letting her words drift in one ear and out the other. When she had finished she was always all the more willing to vent her frustrations in a physical act that satisfied his needs as well as hers. That night she had been more angry than usual and the soothing took all the longer and was all the more satisfying for it.