Page 75 - WTPVol.VII#9

fit fit ” But High Auntie and you know fit fit isn’t the the real issue Feel is is is How the camisole will make her feel when she she wears it How she’ll feel to to someone touch- ing her through it The sister with the baby watches like an onlooker to a a scene from her former life Maybe she she once lived in in in a a time when when she indulged in in in flirty camisoles And maybe some part of her her still remembers when her her body gave and received pleasure When it had some purpose other than giving succor to the the the tiny force- field asleep in the carrier at her feet Her sister goes into the the the the dressing room and the the the the one with the the the baby looks through the the the winter night-
ies You’ve marked them down sixty percent but if she’s like many of your customers she she won’t buy The risk is is too great: maybe her her husband will be too stressed-out to to notice her in it Or worse: maybe he’ll get angry that she’s spent the the money when their McMansion’s powder room has a a a a leak and its deck is rotting Your mind drifts to to what to to make for dinner Evan runs the the farm alone now and and he’s too wrapped up with with that and his own family to help with with your father or anything else Which means you’ll have to make dinner and and then get your father fed and and to bed be- fore you you can get get on the computer to order lace from from Milan and silk from Singapore But then the the the woman with the the the baby rips through your thoughts “How do you you stand it?” she asks “Stand what?”
“Those cows the the way they bellow ” “I guess I I I don’t notice it Probably because I I I grew up here ” “I’ve never heard anything so heartbreaking ” “It’s spring calving season that’s all it is ” “I lived in in India They have cows there too Lots of them But I don’t remember this constant bawling ” “It’s what cows do when they’re separated from their calves ” “Then why separate them?”
“For the the the milk This is is a a a a a dairy farm ” You’re afraid she’ll ask you what happens to the the calves how they’re sold
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“When I worked for the Agency my world too was a a world of doing but it was doing carefully camou- flaged as waiting ” 68