In My Desperate Time

I pick up the pieces and put them all in a bag, and take it out of the door.

Frances Louis will be back in the evening, so I must solve it during the day.

I call Steven Song and tell him I'd be late. I get the leave permit so easily. It’s nice to have a boss buddy.

Then I call Mindy Sue. She tells me a shop that restores antiques, and I go there excitedly.

The boss is a woman of about thirty, not glamorous, but graceful, who looks very comfortable.

When I get in, she is cleaning an inkstone.

She sees me come in and gives me a soft smile.

“Hello.” I go up to her and take the bag out. “Ms, please have a look at this vase and would you repair it?”

The boss puts down the inkstone and takes over the bag.

She frowns when she sees the pieces.

“Broke into pieces.”

stops and I ask her

can’t pay it off even if

my best but I can’t promise.”

repaired

can't be fixed today, I

me and says, “Since you're in a hurry, I'm

and dumps out

this blue-and-white porcelain vase. It is not very big. But it must be difficult

again around six in

get out of the antique

Who knows what

says to me

saying. Noah Jefferson came here and confessed love to me yesterday. It was she who said gossips that made it so awkward. Much of Nicole Snow's hostility toward

but she doesn’t believe it.

company, I just do my job. You have no business in my private things.” I say

last night during my menstrual cramps. I must draw it as soon

behind me. I feel like she wants to see what I'm doing. A designer’s work is a private thing. I turn to her and say, “What are you doing behind me when