But one incident changed everything. I clearly remember the color of the suit that she was wearing that day. It was Russian blue. And thank Jesus that...it was summer. She was not carrying her dupatta. I had just taken the final exams of high school and was enjoying my holidays. I was sitting on watching television. She came to my home and sat on the floor with my mom and started cutting vegetables. It was their usual routine. They would gossip about the world and cut vegetables at that time of. She always found the mostbeautiful things for me to wear. That all seems like so long ago."I want to go outside, right now!" My voice is unintentionally loud.Every eye in the room is suddenly on me; I feel like I've committed acrime.The woman by the window shakes her head at me. "I'm sorry," she lies,"You can't leave the house." Her partner, another woman who had beenstanding near mother, nods in agreement. Mom seems to petrified tospeak.Again I declare my intentions. "I want to go. Only a month into the new house Marta’s husband’s employer went out of business without warning. He began searching for a new job but there was nothing within range of the house they were now committed to.Marta saw him sweat and stew and it wasn’t good. When it got desperate she said to him, “Sweetie I love you and I have to help. I know from that convention gig that I can earn some good money with my body. Just to tide us over.”Her husband, naturally, didn’t like the idea but begrudgingly went. She also had a lot of residual nostril exhale going on and I thought to myself that I was going to have to try and introduce myself to this little lovely. She was probably around 18 I figured but a damn fine smoker and maybe she had and older sister or mother as I was 28 and probably a little too old for her. She smoked a second cigarette, I was able to see that they were cork filtered, and talked on the phone then left carrying a pack sack and her purse. I watched as she left and noticed that.