When her vision cleared she looked up at him again and saw the wild pleasure etched into his old black face. But they’d kept her separate from them, and that shaped her thinking more than she wanted to admit. It was somehow comforting. The air conditioning came back on and the rush of cool air on her cheek seemed to wake her up. I retired from the Marines after 31 years a couple months ago. “Nah, I just don’t want her to worry.”
Abby lay on her side, naked and leaking as she watched him leave with a mock salute. Something about this large black man was making her light-headed, simple-minded. “I can’t do this.. Then she told him which room was which and asked if he’d just set about making sure each box was in the room for which it was labeled. “Would you like something to drink? It wasn’t as though her parents had been overt racists. Still, once it was put together, Abby felt some pride in this thing that she’d done on her own, for herself.
