Ana came back to the probation office the next day. She wore a dress, blue with white lace, and demure at the knees and neck. It would be her church dress. At first I thought it was in response to the fact that I’d told her, the day before, that of course I wanted to fuck her.

But she talked to me more directly than she had before. She listened, as far as I could tell, when I talked, and answered me when I asked her questions. She still didn’t look at me, but she looked at the floor at my feet instead of at the far side of the room. She was being respectful. The church dress was another sign.

Being angry with her the day before, by the river, seemed to have worked. I’df become an authority figure, or as close as I was going to get. She needed an authority figure just then, if she was going to stay out of prison, so I kept myself gruff and scary through most of that interview.