"My husband came over to Egypt to find a wife,"
said the small dark women with the unlikely name of Henrietta
"and that was me. I was 14 years old."
She lay sunk deep into her bed,
and there was no way of knowing what was wrong.

In the package from Ann there were tiny metal hearts and a smiling gold
half moon. I chewed the RELAX gum that accompanied these things,
studying the Asian characters on its green and silver wrapping while
Alice determined my blood pressure. Alice is getting married in
December.

"I bore 20 children, but 4 of them died," Henrietta said.
On the other side of the curtain that surrounds her bed,
one of the nurses grimaced and crossed her legs.

"And what will the bridesmaids wear?" I asked Alice.

 
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