Like Cinderella, I left a token behind in good faith but skittish(ed) away before the coach turned to a pumpkin after all. The good thing about going to China, so far, is that I cannot tell what the good thing will be about it. It will at worst be no happily ever after, and at best it’ll be god only knows what. (And the red guys won too, and I was the only one paying attention, almost.) Sometimes it feels as if someone has a crowbar between my rack of ribs and with leverage I might break open.

piers faccini – if I