The sound of Lila’s little-girl laughter reached him from outdoors. He realized suddenly that he liked May. He felt for her. She was like her house, he thought. Hidden behind slogans and bumper-sticker thought formulas. Broken and neglected like the house, but once fine. He taught at a college, after all; a pierced tongue and tattoos and defiant cant was not a disguise that could hide much from him. He suspected he was looking at a young girl in terrible emotional pain, too much pain for her to come out into life and engage with its complexities. But he liked her heart, he thought. His
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