The neighborhood is unassuming as Roger drove up to the back of the building.  He thinks of why he came and debates his options for a minute in silence.  The rain falls harder to agitate his thinking and his conscience.  He has been to this place so many times, thought about the whole situation over and over, yet no matter how many different viewpoints her takes there are no black and white answers.  The rain continues to fall as does his resolve.  Roger knows he will do nothing, as he always did noting, but just the possibility that things could change kept him coming back.

It all started when he was much younger than he feels today, taken back by memories of the mountains and all of the rituals surrounding the ceremony.  Excitement for the upcoming event made the wait seem that much longer.  Having to give her father an offer that day, Roger wondered if his proposal has been a wise idea a t all.  Was he always going to be an outsider in her world, being made worse by the fact that he could not offer much?  We pulled back the cloth door on the shelter.  His nostrils filled with smoke.  The whole ordeal made him terrified of what consequences would come for the things he had done.

Thinking back on his life it seemed a series of punishments, one after another, for events out of his control.  She had made sense at the time, full of everything he was not.  She could save him form the inevitableness of his life.  She was different than anyone he had ever met, more interesting and complex.  Maybe he had asked for too much from her.  He knew he didn’t deserve all that she had given him….