she’s arguing like she belongs there. not so that she can belong there, not that she never did or will, but she is arguing with the tone that she does; “i belong here”, a reminder, not contradictory. no, she is not fighting to belong, she is fighting because she belongs, and you watch as she argues for vegetables, living a life that you in comparison cannot justify:

and with two quarters & sweaty thighs, you join the stream of people: you realize, abruptly, that because no one knows you happened that you didn’t actually happen. you remember not one face in the crowd so they never happened either. you walked in a crowd but that crowd is nameless and unalive, only to have existed in literate terms only… realize it was the same to you as well, realize suddenly that when you recount that child with their family you are lying and making it up. god dammit.