She knew that she was becoming a burden in Solomon’s life. She was doing nothing, she wasn’t helping. She complained. She bitched. She couldn’t help it. To escape from her guilt she let her mind skip erratically from memory to memory, fleeting visions of Utica and Demo, her mind zoomed in on incomprehensible details, the hair on Demo’s wrists, a broken fingernail she had noticed once on Utica’s forefinger.
The days passed and Solomon could not help noticing that Jesse washed herself less and less often. Her hair became stringy and matted. The skin around her eyes was dark.
One afternoon, as he sometimes did, Solomon asked Jesse if she wanted to go for a short walk and get some fresh air. Jesse was still in bed. She didn't answer. So Rose and Solomon went out for a walk to the West Villag
