Five months into our living together, my lover held me on his lap and murmured in my ear, “Will you ever leave me?” Thinking he wanted the truth, I gave it to him. He thrust me off his thighs, standing up so abruptly the chair we'd been sitting on toppled backwards, catching a plant stand on its way down, stems and dirt scattering as he screamed and all the while, I kept my eyes lowered, visualized white light and flaming swords in a whirling aura all around my head, protecting me from his rage, shielding me from his wild woe.
Carole Greenfield grew up in Colombia and lives in New England, where she teaches multilingual students at a public elementary school.