Chapter 79

Flashback

Years Ago

Martha

was proud that she would stay for so many days without running upstairs to Dave's door and snatching him. She was happy she had not run into him on any occasion, but she followed him out in his new Camry. The poise with which he carried himself, the unworried clothes and hair he wore out, and the comely expressway he took long strides out of the garage after parking. A portion of her demanded to sit with him in the car and tell him long stories while they drove to a destination she had not yet seen.

She had to pack her pokes again. She was going to Mississippi to see her parents, who did not call much or watch important things about her. The couple sounded gratified with each other, and a third party invariably burst their bubbles. The third-party happened to be her. She frequently wondered if maybe she had been in an accident if her parents had not calculated the demand for a child, which to her was a logical argument enough for wh