"Take off your dress and turn your back to me."
[Okay... this situation again] Benjamin thought, watching the size of that fist without shifting his weight. [I can't believe people live here and treat this as ordinary. If I truly were a young, innocent woman walking these streets alone, I would be in serious trouble right now].
He let his gaze drop to the packed dirt at his feet.
A thin line of ants was moving along a narrow crack in the ground, each one following the one ahead in a steady, unhurried procession.
They carried tiny fragments of something—food, building material, the ordinary currency of their small lives—and they moved with purpose, with direction.
The ordinary industry of the insects stood in contrast to the larger, heavier presence only a few steps away.
