“He waited until The Price Is Right went to a commercial; then he leaned toward her and took her hand. He whispered into her ear. I don’t know what he whispered. Something nice, I think, because she started to smile. And then a flashbulb went off inside her body—this snap of light in her eyes and in her open mouth, like a stroke of lightning pulsing inside a cloud—and when it faded, she was gone. And so was he.”
