“Boy Named Kind,” he said softly, “when was the last time someone showed you kindness?” My agitated brain stuttered in search of an answer. Kindness was Tití Luz. The steward on the USS Carolina who didn’t toss me overboard and gave me a job. Even the Menagerie, despite everything, had offered me a life away from fire and smoke. “I wouldn’t be alive without it,” I said. “¿Y ternura?” A hand left my waist to move a curl out of my eyes. “What of tenderness?” I swallowed. “Sonia kissed me.” “That was not tenderness.”
