Chapter 40

Curious, Maya inquired, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears, "You mean money?"

"Yes," Rachael confirmed.

Maya tried to push away thoughts about her finances and focused on what she needed for her new apartment – beds, couches, bookshelves, a desk, a vacuum cleaner, and the cost of hiring a moving company. The expenses made her head spin.

"I have enough money," she assured Rachael. "But it doesn't matter anyway. What do you want? Money? A car? A house? You can have anything you want."

Rachael responded, "No. I'm not interested in material possessions. What I desire more than anything else is to be normal."

Maya nodded sympathetically. "Of course," she said.

"But I am not," Rachael continued. "I'm not like anyone else. I look different, sound different, and even smell different. I don't want to change who I am; I just want people to accept me for be