Sunday, December 2, 2018

A Rainy Florida Evening

We were riding in the back of the minivan together. A chance to have a little chat, to ask her questions, to show that I think about her and care. It is short ride from the restaurant to their house. Before we pull out of the parking lot, she turns her back to me at a 45-degree angle, puts her earphones in, and stares out the window. There will be no conversation this evening. I will not force the situation; I know she feel awkward talking to her uncle and I understand how that feels. Nevertheless, as I watch the back of her head, with the occasional flashes of her face reflected in the window when we pass beneath streetlights, she continues to look passively at the never-ending rows of strip malls, and an 11-year-old cuts me to the quick. 

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