Sex and Rage

Sonia laughed; her laughter rolled around them like soft pearls.

And then he was gone and the door closed, but the room was still trembling with unrequited love.

It reminded Jacaranda of the way her grandmother had always sighed, unable to hide the depth of her disappointments at the way life had cheated her of her natural place and forced her to live among those who could never understand and would wallow content in ordinariness. When her grandmother sighed, it inspired bleak gloom in all who heard. The more you tried to liven things up, the blacker and stickier you got.