SEVENTEEN
The phone feels slippery in her hand. Sylvia finishes dressing and looks at herself in the mirror. She’s wearing her Safeway uniform. She hates the way it looks on her, but she has no choice. She has to wear it if she wants to keep her job. Ben said she’d never have to work again, that he’d take care of her. That everything they dreamed about would come true. The book is going to sell, he told her. Just wait and see. Then he gassed himself in the car. She found him when she got home from work. He took care of himself, Sylvia thinks. That’s what people who commit suicide always do – they take care of themselves.
Now Floyd wants to see her. He likes to see her after work because he wants to watch her take off her uniform. He always likes that part. I like it too, Sylvia thinks,
