* * *
As the girls wandered, the sun cast orange streaks in the eastern sky. Lights popped on in kitchens and bathrooms and narrow halls with gold and forest-green shag carpeting. Although neither would speak of it, if they had stopped, and reached inside themselves, they would have discovered a longing for their past and family—even the chores they once dreaded.
But those days were over. The girls would have to do the bulk of their walking by night now that Sher had stabbed a white man. In the gray, early morning light, they slid down a steep grassy embankment under a bridge until they were under it. They slept fitfully while cars spun tires twenty feet above them.
The girls woke late morning.
Kristin dug for money in the bag. “Is this all we got?”
“What?” Sher asked.
“Nine and chan
