Free A Seal Upon Your Heart by Pepper Pace

her own apartment. She had plenty of blessings to count.
     
    She opened the book of poetry by Maya Angelou, and then searched for the poem that she wanted to read aloud. Very softly she recited it, feeling her tongue roll over each word and enjoying the way they resonated back to her with meaning and strength.
     
    …You may shoot me with your words,
    You may cut me with your eyes,
    You may kill me with your hatefulness,
    But still, like air, I'll rise…
     
    ~***~
     
    It rained Wednesday and by the time Jane got to work her shoes were wet and scuffed. Actually they were scuffed even before today; from the constant walking that they had not been meant for. She hung up her raincoat and could barely wait for the coffee to brew to get rid of the slight chill that had settled in her bones. Today was unusually cold for late spring and she kept on the grey wool sweater that she wore over her white blouse. She was wearing her navy skirt again, but didn’t dare wear any of the pleated skirts she owned for fear that people really would make fun of her.
     
    She would get paid Friday and the first thing she intended to do was to buy shoes and clothes. Jen had started the coffee brewing and neither spoke to the other. She knew that Jen would hog up the computer again so she busied herself with other things…only most things they did was done on the computer.
     
    Since Tim wasn’t due in court today and things wouldn’t be nearly as hectic, Jane decided to take a break around ten. She knocked on his door and asked if he wanted her to bring him anything back.
     
    He thought about it. “Donuts if they have them.” He dug for his wallet and handed her five dollars. “Get yourself something, too.”
     
    She was thankful for that. Her money was very low. “I’ll be back in about 15 minutes.”
     
    He shook his head. “That’s barely long enough to stand in line. Just be back within half an hour.”
     
    “Okay.” She headed back to the door and her shoes began to squeak. When she glanced behind her Tim was staring down at them.
     
    “Oh,” She stammered.  “It rained and my shoes got wet.” Her face felt hotter than a smoking skillet. Now there was no way that she could ever wear these shoes again. Tim had noticed how old they looked!
     
    He nodded and stared at her. “You take the bus?”
     
    “Yes, two actually. The one by the convent only drops me off downtown, and then I either take another bus to get here—or walk.” When he didn’t say anything else she finally left.
     
    She wished it wasn’t raining so hard or she would have taken a break outside, it would be the first break that she’d taken down in the canteen since the last time she’d been here with Jen. But there was no way that she could sit and relax in the work area with the woman when she practically vibrated hostility at her. Before, she had merely ignored her. Now Jen gave her nasty looks and rolled her eyes whenever she did something for Tim, like buying him the donuts. What Jen didn’t get is that Jane wasn’t doing it to save her job—she would have done it anyway.
     
    When she walked past the people that had made fun of her the day before, she felt her back bristle and tried not to look at them. They didn’t even look in her direction either, even though they had to have heard her approach with her damned squeaky shoes. Embarrassed she quickly entered the elevator and went down to the canteen.
     
    “Jane?” She was standing in front of the vending machine looking at the packaged treats but there were no donuts. She looked up quickly and saw the black woman that she had been introduced to by Jen. She wondered if Jen was ignoring them, too and figured that they probably didn’t care one way or the other.
     
    “Hi. Nice to see you again,” Jane said, not sure if that statement was true or not.
     
    “Claudette.” The lady said, re-introducing herself. Claudette appeared to be in her forties, plump and pretty with a round