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28 JOANNA RUOCCO On the desks, the books are black. The spines are black. The covers are black. I open the books. Inside, I see black. The children have ripped the pages from the books. I lift a book by its spine. The covers tap together. I make the edges of the covers tap together. The book has black jaws. I laugh. How will the children read the books? I nip Tamworth’s arm with the book. I nip her shoulder. I nip Tamworth’s nose with the book. She laughs. She knocks the book from my hands. The jaws fall open. The Master’s dogs have black, speckled gums. The Master’s dogs are old. Their teeth are worn low in their gums. The Master’s dogs have stiffened in their hips. Their back legs are stiff when they run. The Master’s dogs make their mess in the orchard. They cannot crouch. They make their mess like cows in the field. They lift their tails. They run through the orchard, their mess falling behind. Their mess is yellow fluids. I could not wipe it from the apples. The skins on the apples 13 29 ANOTHER GOVERNESS are cracked. The fluids seeped beneath the skins. The Master’s dogs leak fluid in the house. The Master lets his dogs in every room of the house. The nursery door is locked from the outside . The dogs inside the nursery have been inside for a very long time. The children have scattered the piles of hair. ...

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