July 7, 2015:

Loud family in the laundry. Giggles and complaints: why do I always carry the heavy things? Then a game of tag spilling through the door.

Older woman with tattoo'd chest. Butterflies, I think. Flipping magazines while her cell phone buzzes, unanswered.

Tall Hispanic girl with black black hair all in a bun, neck tattoo showing above leather jacket collar. Folds her zebra-stripe blanket, looking bored.

Your author, observing, reading Steinbeck, drifting in thought to the two beautiful young women he's recently befriended, each in deep pain, in their separate ways.

Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?