a tattoo of a single line connecting two black dots. I stared at it, tried to make out its meaning. Sunshine scooted back toward me. “For the record,” she explained, “it’s not a very thin barbell.” She ran her fingers across it. “I hear that one a lot.” “I’m assuming there’s a backstory?” Sunshine swooped a strand of gray hair from her face. “My daughter and I both have them.” She smiled. “It’s supposed to represent the two of us—an umbilical cord, this idea that we’ll always be connected.” She became lost in a thought. “I went through a difficult time a few years ago,” she explained and then
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