11 Brick
Pari Malik is seated in a booth across from Violet and Earl Hawkins. Violet is trying to smile and relax. Earl is wide awake and doting on his wife, making sure she is warm enough under her jacket in the air-conditioned restaurant.
Violet takes Pari's hand.
"You are an angel," Violet says. "It pleases me to know a person so young and kind."
"Thank you for letting me take you to dinner," Pari says. "This is my pleasure. Like Malana and Roman said, it is a blessing that neither of you were physically injured by the attack tonight."
"I haven't eaten dinner this late in decades," Earl says. "But I am not complaining. What matters is that Violet was not maimed or even cut by all the glass pieces. Actually, this is my first time out of the house in several weeks."
"He is a
