Making Space (The Time Traveler's Passport)

by R.F. Kuang

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Chris pumped dutifully away whenever the time was right, and then Jess lay flat on her back, her legs in the air.

she is experiencing a pleasure that all parents must feel—the privilege of showing their children the world.

“Jess, come on.” Everyone in the neighborhood knows that she doesn’t want to go. She knows they know, but she must show up anyway, to put on the performance

the women laugh, that mean, ugly laugh that is somehow only reserved for minorities.

She feels it in her bones, the dark shape of the constricting horizon. She can’t describe the contours of it, but she feels the nameless dread, and she knows.

Jess knows not to mistake this gentle tone for kindness, but Buddy doesn’t.