Chapter 28
Another week slipped by in the same quiet pattern.
I went to the bookstore four afternoons in a row. Ruth paid me in cash at the end of each shift and stopped watching me so closely once she saw I could shelve without making a mess of the system. The work was simple. It left my hands busy and my mind mostly empty. That emptiness was useful. It kept me from turning over things I could not change.
The symptoms I had been ignoring did not fade. Certain smells still turned my stomach. I grew tired faster than I should have. Some mornings I woke with a low nausea that forced me to sit on the edge of the bed until it passed. I continued to tell myself it was leftover strain from the power I had used. My body was still settling in. That was all.
On Saturday morning, I stepped into
