“Why are you doing this for me?”
“When I was the slave, Irma brought lunch up to me. I promised myself I’d do it for the slave after me.”
Andrea sat down at the tray, opposite her. “Thank you.” She looked over the platter of salad, yogurt, cheese, fruit, bread and butter, milk, and a granola bar. There was cutlery, even if only plastic, and paper napkins.
“Please start eating.”
They talked as they ate.
“How long were you a slave?”
“Twenty-six days, if I counted right.”
“Twenty-six days?”
“When the new woman arrives, you're done being the slave. Irma was a slave only fifteen days. Christine told her she’d been a slave thirty-seven days.”
“Thirty-seven days.”
“You'll be fine. You'll see.”
“Now that you're not the slave, what do you do?”
“I have a job.”
“Doing what?”
“Working in
