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“Look, Tanisha, if I don’t help Xoth by attributing the attack to Zyz, then Zyz will probably keep their contract with Oakland and may even get that contract with San Francisco. You may think I’m selling out, but I’m making things better.” I cringed at the whine in my voice. “You think things are b…

San Francisco had moved on during my years away: my friends, my family, and my city—all transformed into something new and only vaguely familiar. Who would I have been if I’d stayed in the city? Would I have helped gentrify Oakland with a tiny apartment or a run-down house that I laboriously repain…

“What do I do if he stops breathing?”

“You know mouth-to-mouth?”

Her eyes got wide. “No.”

“Then you shout, ‘Who the fuck here knows CPR?’ until someone comes over.”

I could see that she was about to back off, so I said, “Come on, this guy needs you.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going t…

“Masha, I know you think that the ‘struggle for justice’ is a corny fantasy, but you live in a world where people have weekends, don’t get maimed on the job, and have constitutional rights, at least some of the time. You live in a world where I’m not someone’s property, where I can vote, where …

“She’s not running with a good crowd, your friend Tanisha. Black identity extremists. Kind of organization where you scratch the surface and it’s all Russian infowar stuff, targeted ads getting people riled up and in the streets.” She shook her head slowly. “It’s a pity. I can tell her heart’s in t…