How to Read a Book

by Monica Wood

The boredom feels like lice and you itch all over. Day after day, broken up sometimes by a job in Industry

yards and into the buildings, door after locked door, gate after locked gate,

appreciate every minute of every lice-boring day.

stemmed

Again reading his thoughts, she said, “I made a good life with a man I did not deeply love.” Frank took her hand. He said, “I made a good life with a woman who did not deeply love me.”