Sometimes the world is heavy-handed like this: the straight hit of sex and the suitcases, the hobo tattoo on the ring finger, the stranger literally yelling, “Get out of the way!” The blaring marquee telling us which movie will play.

Except that’s the easy narrative. The truth was something more complicated. I liked his mind, his voice, the way he laughed. He woke up something still alive in me, ready to thaw.