I had long known that the more simple a thing was, the less likely it was to be understood; and now Emerence would never have the chance to make anyone understand either herself or her cats. No matter what she might say, her credibility had been destroyed by the stench that had poured out of her home and the dirt that remained there to be cleaned. The chicken and duck carcasses that surrounded her, the rotting fish and boiled vegetables, testified to what had never been true, that she was mad, not that her body had left her iron will stranded. After
