Mother could stay home now since I was back to our trade. Taking care of the garden had been her priority. She had the talent of chasing away heavily mustached rams that feasted on our green garden and trapping stubborn birds that deposited their beaks upon the leafy vegetables, leaving us with little or nothing to sell.

Times on end I often recalled the picture of Brian in my wallet, and I wondered what was stopping me from discarding that picture; since I had nothing to do with Brian anymore it was literally normal for me to discard anything that belonged to him; about the other night I was abandoned...