28 NoraWednesday night, Nora was back in The Dalles at her favorite ten-star budget motel with ashtrays in the smoking-is-allowed rooms. Soon as she got into hers, she yanked off her pinstriped power suit and white blouse, unhooked her bra, and pulled on a baggy once-white T-shirt and ancient gray sweatpants.
She stretched her arms above her head, easing the kinks in her back and relishing the loose softness of her sleep-alone outfit. She’d spent all afternoon in Parma doing heavy-duty lawyering.
But she was free at last, her body released from the constraints of proper attorney behavior and dress. Her skin seemed to vibrate, blossoming with the joy of escape.
Soon as her meeting ended, she’d put the Buick on the road westbound. She’d stopped only once and only long enough to stock up o
