Aria sat in the mute atmosphere of the back seat of the Land Cruiser. Here, away from the self-gratification of the people and the diminishment she felt because of it, she was glad for her little pile of charity items, where she hadn’t felt glad before. She spread them all out on the seat of the car. She was conscious that the way she felt, looking at them, was similar to the way she’d felt on the few occasions when one of her foster parents had taken her trick-or-treating. She felt replete. At least for a little while, she wouldn’t have to go desperately searching to meet an immediate need.

Stripping down to her bra and underwear, Aria used a few of the hand wipes to give herself a kind of provisional sponge bath. She pulled the comb unforgivingly through the length of her hair. She was grateful for the comb most of all. Since her brush had gone missing when her backpack was stolen on one of her first days in the city, she had been using her own hands to untangle her hair every morning. Leaning her legs out the opposite side of the car from where Anthony’s camp was situated, she used one of the bottles of water, the razor and the men’s shaving cream to shave her legs for the first time in ages. She didn’t know why she did it. Perhaps it was stupid. There was no reason to shave her legs in the life she was currently living. In fact, doing so might make her more uncomfortable once the hair started to grow back in. But she was sick of feeling decrepit.

Because it was Christmas, she allowed herself to separate the orange and the packet of cheese and crackers from the rest of the stash, which she stuffed deep into the main compartment of her backpack. The sweet-sour taste of the orange segments was tainted by the bitter pith that still glazed her hand from when she’d peeled off the rind. She spread the cheese on one of the crackers with the little red stick that was provided in the packet. It tasted chemical, but it felt luxurious to eat. When she had finished, she threw the orange rind and the little tangle of hair that had come loose in her comb over the fence of the car lot.