Should the rug be straight or
slanted she wonders and there is
panic in her voice as if all
the ways will be
wrong. Then there’s a crash and
quick avowal: I did it. Keep
my pay. Keep my pay
back today. We want to know:
how did you get so frightened, and
by whom. Put down the
rug no matter how, dishes just
anywhere. What is your
last name? Don’t you think
you could like us if
you try? She stands just slowly
lifting up her face. Next to the faded
soft rose of her venerable
dress, her hands hang closed on
nothing. She opens, in the ancient
gesture of acceptance: with primrose
palms she tells us her last
name; she says that she will
try. We feel that we will make the whole
world over new—this morning.