covered in the glistening polish, I grab my coat without wiping my hands. The cool night breeze hits me as I walk out the door, and I turn left, walking down the road leading to our house. I don’t make it ve steps before I hear quick footsteps behind me. Turning around, I see a disheveled man, on the younger side, and big – at least six foot ve inches. In his right hand, he grasps several pearl necklaces, dangling low through the cracks between his ngers. In his left is a large sack, lled to the brim but not weighing too much. I step aside to let him pass, and he looks at me with the con dence of a man who knows that there are no consequences - at least not in this town. “You didn’ see nuthin’,” he says, glaring at me. I stand still as I watch him turn the corner and vanish. — It felt like time didn’t exist. It could have been minutes, hours, days before I woke up again. My head had stopped spinning, but it pulsated and ached, desperate for water. My body, broken and tired, longed for rest, and for once I decided to listen to it. As I closed my eyes, I saw Sarah, the subject of a portrait in my mind. She looked like she did the rst time I saw her, not as she looked the last night. I saw owing dark hair, dark brown eyes, a smile as bright as the sun’s re ection o a glass. She didn’t hold back. That’s what I loved most. I’m waiting for you, I heard her say. I lifted my head o the rock, and the world started spinning again. Slowly, I got my feet under me and took a step. My leg couldn’t hold the weight, and I fell face- rst into the dirt, causing a cloud of dust to rise around me. Coughing, I got back up again and took a deep breath before taking my next step. With wobbling knees, I started o across the desert, a man alone without direction. The immense cli s on each side looked down upon me as I traversed the dusty landscape. I no longer felt the aching in my legs, as they had gone numb at some point I no longer remembered. I didn’t know how much longer I could go, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before my legs gave up supporting the rest of my body. I wasn’t sure what I would do then. Give up, maybe. Lie there on the ground. Die slowly without seeing her again. But I kept moving, looking for something, anything. — “How are we going to start a family when you’re never here, Jackson?” she asks. “How are we going to start a family if I give up on every order that comes in?” I reply. She looks into my eyes; disappointment and sadness are etched into the wrinkles which appeared only recently. The image of the man holding the pearls on my walk home appears in my mind. How are we doing to start a family in a town like this? I think to myself. — I had given up without realizing it. At one moment I was walking, and the next, the sound of hooves and men caused me to stir. I slowly lifted my head and saw a stampede of horses rushing towards me. I
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closed my eyes again, hoping for a death without pain. I didn’t even inch or grimace, wince or cover my
