“Duke had a tattoo of his dead mom on his upper thigh. I found it the first time I took his pants off. His mom was young and smiling politely at me, etched into the soft spot of his leg like fine art…”

“I stare at the jumbo box of Costco condoms on my desk. It is unopened, unhelpful. I open it and take out one condom. It doesn’t look like a weapon of self defense. It looks like a packet of soy sauce.”