vanessa gets up she feels sleepy she walks around the table her feet shuffling on the wood floor see the way the grain swirls and remembers that this was once a living thing a growing thing webbed on the world she bends down and kisses joanna softly on the cheek her cheek dry as naked paper waiting for an inscription and the mark of her lips shows there for only a moment joanna watches her go a look in her eyes which vanessa can not but guess at .