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Show 191 Then he followed the boy's eyes to the back of the building where he saw that the woman had emerged from the bathroom and was coming back toward them, the white cup held precariously out in front of her as though it contained an exact measure of cooking oil which might spill. "That didn't take long," he said, standing up to meet her. "It's a small cup," she said, "now what." "Now our fingers," he said. He led her back to the counter. After a while one of the girls in white came to collect the cup and prick their fingers. When the cold metal punctured the woman's flesh she jerked, but the girl held the finger firmly in her own, as though it was a small tricky animal. The boy with the gold earring winked as the woman's blood rose in a tiny tube. "That wasn't bad, was it?" said the man a moment later. "It hurt," she said. "You need to relax," he said. "Are you hungry?" "Not even a little bit," said the woman. They were still standing at the counter when the man with the recently broken nose came in. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm being bitchy," said the woman. "I understand," said the man. "No you don't," she said. "If you did everything would be easy." "What do you mean everything?" said the man. "What do you mean easy?" "What do you mean what do I mean. Everything everything. Forget it." Then suddenly the woman smiled at something distant. |