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Return
- University of Wisconsin Press
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80 Return C hristine arrives at our back door the same day the rains end. She is thin, her clothes muddy and torn. I wouldn’t have recognized her. She says, “You’ve grown,” and smiles. But her eyes are tired and like she doesn’t look into the secret place anymore. She goes to wash and sleep. The next day she is wearing her white dress. It hangs from her body in folds. Alongside the beauty lines are new lines scored deep in her face. I watch her doing the laundry, squatted on the ground, slapping and turning the wet cloth on the board. Beads of water zigzag down her face. I touch her cheek with my finger. She pushes me away. ...