She looked thinner and cold. I told her that I would bring her more food in the morning and I tried to get her to get under the bedcovers with me, but she disappeared when I tried to put my arms around her to keep her warm.
There was dirt on her nightgown and in her hair. There was dirt under her fingernails and covering her arms. I tried to brush the dirt off her arms, but it stuck to her skin.
I got up and got another nightgown out of her dresser drawers for her, but she had brought her suitcase back home with her. She opened it up and got another change of clothes out of it—a clean dress and a warm sweater, some clean underwear and pantyhose and a pair of shoes that matched. She got her winter coat out and her winter gloves and her winter hat too.
She got dressed back up and she looked warm again. She said that she wanted to come back home so that she could go back to sleep with me. She told me that I should go back to sleep too.
I changed out of my nightclothes and put some warmer clothes on too. I put clean underwear and a clean undershirt on. I put a dress shirt, a nice tie, and a clean suit on. I tied the tie up in its knot. I pulled dress socks on and put dress shoes on too.
I got a suitcase out and packed one up for me too. I packed up socks and underwear. I packed up undershirts and dress shirts and shirts for every day. I packed up another suit inside the suitcase and another pair of shoes. I packed up my slippers and my other nightclothes.
I packed up so many changes of clothes and set my suitcase down next to her suitcase. I put my over coat on over my clothes and put a hat on to keep my head warm. I was ready to go away with her to sleep.
Michael Kimball is the author of three critically-acclaimed novels, including Dear Everybody and The Way the Family Got Away. Each of his novels has been translated (or is being translated) into many languages. His work has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and in Vice, as well as The Guardian, Prairie Schooner, Post Road, Open City, Unsaid, and New York Tyrant. He is also responsible for Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard), the documentary films I Will Smash You and 60 Writers/60 Places, and the conceptual pseudonym, Andy Devine.
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