"This is what I was saying!" Martha screamed. "It's that god damned dog all over again! You save one stray dog, what happens when you come across the next stray dog?! We live in Arkansas, Justin! We could find a stray dog every block if we wanted to! And now that same pathology, with helpless young women stuck in towers? What the fuck, Justin? What about us?! What about you and me? What about Tom and Helen?"

"Babe," Justin said. "I don't know what you want from me. We both knew this job would require travel. We both agreed to this."

"We both agreed to occasional travel!" Martha retorted. "You are not traveling occasionally! Every weekend, you go trolling around looking for another twenty-something to whisk down from a tower, then be like 'oh, I dunno what to do with you, let's just add her to our family'. We have enough 'daughters', Justin!"

"Hey," Justin sounded angry. "Enough, Martha. These little girls need someone too. They have no one, they don't deserve to be locked away their full lives."

"But, honey, that is just the world! That is what we live with! It is like the stray dogs! Do you want to go rescue some?" Martha swung open the front door, from which they could see two stray dogs, one corgi mix, the other a mutt. "Go get 'em."

Justin looked at Martha with vitriol, not speaking to not regret his words.

"This is different." Is all Justin said, his eyes fixed on the floor.

"Sure," Martha spat. "Sure. Keep scratching this weird altruistic itch at the downfall of the rest of your family."

"You don't get it!" Justin screamed, suddenly animated. Martha recoiled, slightly scared.

"It didn't start like this!" Justin continued. "The first time I went, I didn't even want to! Clyde and the boys were going and talked me into it. That first time, honey... I didn't think it'd be so bad. That little girl... I still dream of her most nights, skeletally thin, unbathed, chained in her own filth.

"The only thing that has ever helped has been contributing, from dawn until dusk, until you're too tired to take another step. Then slamming a flask or two of whiskey, then gracefully to sleep. And the sleep that comes then is blissful, cradled in darkness. Morning comes and I don't wake up with a tight chest. This is saving me! This is saving my heart!"

By the end, Justin was blubbering. Martha cradled his head as he sank into the couch, laying on her lap.

Their 'daughters' had stirred from the guest house and were wondering what was wrong with their mom and dad.

However, Justin soon fell asleep in Martha's lap, following the intensity of the evening.

Martha invited in the girls, who had breakfast prepared when Justin woke up from his deep slumber.