It was in art school and Bob and I worked at the county hospital.

This night, he was in the other building and I’d done a lot of clean up and heavy lifting. But, I was twenty, so no big deal. Things had settled in the ward as they do (ebbs and flows), so I went to an open window and leaned at the sunset. A minute later, Mae leaned next to me. One of the nurses, young, beautiful, black and there were lines drawn. There was a dance coming up at school in a couple weeks, and I was thinking should I ask her. I asked, “Where do you live?

She said, “Queen Street.”

I asked, “You got a ride?”

“Yeah I do. You want one?”

“Yeah, I got no ride.”