“She’d make a game of it where she’d relax all the little bits of her body, starting with her fingers and toes and working in toward the center. She had to make herself limp and draw the hurt and want into a tight core inside, each time adding another layer to that core, so that if somebody came along and cut her open, they’d find inside a shining, perfect pearl, hard as any Willy Wonka jawbreaker.”
