The mother of Sharon and Gail Curmen, and a strangely unhappy woman. Though she has attained many of the goals she dreamed of as a young woman - she has a wealthy husband, two fine children, and a beautiful home - Lily is nevertheless feels unfulfilled and somewhat bitter about her life. She never admits anything of the sort, of course, but it is unquestionably the case.

Lily is not employed and spends most of her time either serving in local volunteer organizations (like the PTA) or socializing with a group of women roughly her age. Her most notable skill is that she is an exceptional Bridge player, and plays the game at competitive levels. Since nobody else in her family is interested in Bridge, this serves to distance her even more from her daughters and husband.

During the first year of Sharon's paralysis, Lily was as supportive and nurturing as anyone could hope. However, as time wore on, she began to see Sharon as a source of embarrassment. Lily hated the modifications to her home required for a wheelchair-bound daughter, the awkwardness of bringing Sharon into social situations, and the tedium of caring for the physical needs of a disabled person. She began to see her own daughter as an inconvenience, and she secretly despised herself for her own shallowness.

Her relationship with Gail is, if anything, more difficult. Lily has little appreciation for athletics, and despairs that her younger daughter is becoming "mannish" and "unwomanly" for her devotion to physical pursuits. She is especially critical of Gail's interest in the martial arts, which she views as being a glorification of violence.

The single most important influence in Lily's life is her own mother, Stella.

Aaron Curmen

Aaron is husband to Lily and father to Sharon and Gail, and the founder of Curmen Enterprises. He is an exceptionally intelligent engineer and physicist, and in addition to being the guiding force of a successful business, he has been known to teach seminars and classes at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Others around him guide the business side of the company - Aaron will always be a science geek at heart.

While Aaron is undeniably brilliant, he is not particularly good at relating to people emotionally. He loves his family, after his own fashion, but is lost at sea when it comes to understanding other people at more than a superficial level. He is notoriously unable to express his feelings.

This is harder on Lily than it is on the girls. Though Aaron's wife is attached to the lifestyle that he provides, she is often frustrated with his ineptitude in their relationship, and what she perceives as his aloofness to her. Gail accepts him for what he is and has come to expect nothing more. Sharon is the one who gets along best with him, since she can engage him at his own intellectual level and shares many of his interests. Aaron and his eldest daughter are often more like a professional team than a family, but at least it's a relationship they both understand.

Aaron has served in the military in the Army Corps of Engineers, and many of Curmen Enterprise's projects involve developing advanced military technology. He spends considerably more time at work than at home, but does his best to observe certain important family holidays. He has a distinct method of lighting the grill for the Curmen family's traditional Independence Day cookout.