Clàudia looks at me without seeing. She wants a truth to hold onto. “It’s going to hurt a little, but then it’ll pass. I’ll be right here with you,” I promise. The doctors look at me like I’ve gone mad. Clàudia screws up her face and screams as the needle breaks her skin and slowly enters her vein, but she keeps her arm steady with an impressive force of will as her small hand crushes the bones in mine. She later confesses that the hands of the nurse holding down her ankles had hurt even more than the needle. I hug her and she hugs me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so embraced. Clàudia puts her
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