Omkar could not rationally explain his feelings for her to himself or to anyone else for that matter. She was still unknown to him and yet she was more known to him than his own breath.

He smiled from ear to ear. He tasted the value of that smile. He felt its symmetry against his lips. Once she was out of sight, he walked back to his car. The sound of his footsteps was no longer the sound of his movement forward in life. There was no longer a destination. Omkar knew he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 21

Aria traced the scores lacing her arms. The cut marks she had made had been reformed into purple scars beneath the confines of her coat sleeves. Though raised, they were smooth to the touch. One part of her was ashamed of them. Another part wanted them to be her voice. She wanted them to scream for the rescue that she couldn’t. She waited until she was finished peeing, wiping herself with a leaf that she had pulled from the soil, and stood up from her squatting place in the woods.

Having done some research on edible plants at the library recently, Aria had been scouring the cracks between sidewalks in the vicinity of the car lot looking for purslane. And she had found some. Not in the dense mats that they are so often found in, but she found more than a few solitary patches crocheting the cracks in the cement. Its tiny jade-like leaves stretched outwards on stems whose red tint made them appear to be dyed with cherry juice. She had wandered off into the woods with a handful to find a spot to eat them. The tart flavor of the weed reminded her of watercress stained by citrus.

Aria was inspirited by the potential of foraging. Until recently, the idea was something she had never contemplated. It wasn’t until her body started breaking down that she began to value the freshness of natural foods. So much of the diet she had access to on the street was restricted to what contained enough preservatives to not need refrigeration, what cans of food were available at food banks and what uneaten leftovers could be salvaged out of trash cans. Her diet was causing her to crumble and her body told the tale. The idea that edible plants and especially weeds could be growing in abundance all around her, but that she didn’t know enough to recognize them yet, opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. It opened up the possibility of feeling good. It opened up the possibility of not panicking about where her next meal would come from. And it opened up the possibility of not having to entangle herself so deeply in the humiliating, and strings-attached, dependence on other people’s charity.