redorange sunset

a girl is talking. a tree, she says, can be planted by someone, and watered, but it is not belonged to that person. it is not, she continues, a person's responsibility that it grows or sees the sun: in soontime, it is its own living thing with a life and responsibility all its own. a tree does not owe it to a person to either bloom, wither, live or die, and whether it is stunted or tall is no one's concern but the tree. no person can make the sun shine brighter on it, no person can make the roots take in more water. no person can look at a tree and say, 'this is my tree.'

he was preoccupied but now he walks towards her. the metal and wires of his work ring out. "You're so beautiful, and so right," he says. "But you need to be quiet now." He puts the ball gag on over her mouth, and tightens the strap. he bends her over, unbuttoning her jeans and yanking her panties down.