Hobo Lilly
I swear, as the blade’s tip grazed my cornea, I saw Lilly.
Not in reality--she wasn’t on this cramped freighter--but in my mind.
My daughter was still five, swishing that long blonde ponytail in the air as she bolted out from behind her father’s leg and toward my open arms. He was spitting venom through the same brown eyes by which our daughter expressed nothing but love. I could smell the flowery shampoo in her hair as I told her to be a good girl and that because mommy and daddy were going their separate ways, it didn’t mean mommy didn’t love her. I wasn’t strong enough to tell her the truth, so I told her I’d see her soon. We rubbed our noses together. I called it our special little bunny kiss.
I knew it would be a long time before we’d meet again.
The warm vision was te
