“‘It’s okay, baby,’ she said. ‘Everything’s going to be just fine.’ She was obscene, Seamus thought—her royal manner, the presumption of camaraderie when she met his eyes, her meaty hands on the girl’s head. No, not the girl—Charity.

“Charity lifted her face and said, ‘No, Mama, it’s not okay.’

“And Seamus—who had finally arrived in a world where he was destined to witness but not understand—had to agree.”

—Sarah Frisch, from “Housebreaking”

4:05 pm  •  10 December 2012  •  31 notes