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The cas as sithwise across the dusty concrete floor There were hundreds of us working in the Factory that , all in Green uniforms Ten PSFs patrolled the ays above us, each with his or her own black rifle Another ten were on the ground with us

It was nothan usual to feel the press of their eyes coht before, even after a full day of work in the Garden I had gone to bed with a headache and woken up with a glossy fever fog over my brain, and a sore throat to ers stiff as pencils

I kneasn’t keeping up, but it was like drowning, in a way The harder I tried to work, to keep my head above water, the more tired I felt and the slower I beca too ainst the table to keep froet aith a snail’s pace It wasn’t like they had us doing important work, or that we had deadlines to lorified busywork to keep our hands , our bodies occupied, and our minds dead with boredom Sam called it "forced recess"--they let us out of our cabins, and the asn’t difficult or tiring like it was in the Garden, but no one wanted to be there

Especially when bullies ca before I heard hi the finished, shiny shoes in front of me He smelled like spicedcoarette shten aze, but it felt like he had taken two fists and dug the knuckles deep between my shoulder blades

"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…" Hoas it that they could make mere numbers sound sharp?

At Thurmond, eren’t allow to touch one another, and ere beyond forbidden to touch one of the PSFs, but it didn’t mean that they couldn’t touch us The man took two steps forward; his boots--exactly like the ones on the table--nudged the back of my standard white slip-ons When I didn’t respond, he snuck an arh my work, and pressedmy face to the task in front of runt behind h heat to war Look--watch, girl!"

I got lance at him out of the corner of my eye as he ripped the polish-stained cloth out of my hand and moved to my side He was short, only an inch or two taller than me, with a stubby nose, and cheeks that seemed to flap every time he took a breath

"Like this," he was saying, swiping at the boot he had taken "Look at me!"

A trick We weren’t supposed to look them directly in the eyes, either

I heard a few chuckles around athered at his back

It felt like I was boiling from the inside out It was Decerees, but lines of sere racing down the curves ofup in ht touch at my side Sam couldn’t look up fro to assess the situation A wave of furious red wasits way up froine the kinds of words she was holding back Her bony elbow brushed against ain, as if to re slowness, I felt the sa ently deposited the boot back on the table in front ofvoice as he tapped the plastic bin containing all of my finished work "Did you lace theet for it, I would have burst out into tears I felt er I stood there, but I couldn’t say anything I couldn’t ue had swelled up to twice its usual size behindaround e milky quality My eyes could barely focus now

More snickers fro" His other arm wrapped around my left side, until there wasn’t an inch of his body that wasn’t pressed up against ly of acid

The tables around us had gone coed hi, he picked up the bin of boots and flipped it over, so dozens of boots scattered across the length of the table with a terrible a Everyone saw , wrong!" he sang out, knocking the boots around But they weren’t They were perfect They were just boots, but I knehose feet would slide into them I knew better than to screw it up "Are you as deaf as you are dumb, Green?"

And then, clear as day, low as thunder, I heard Sam say, "That was my bin"

And all I could think was No Oh no

I felt the PSF shift behind me, pull back in surprise They always acted this way--surprised that we reainst them

"What did you say?" he barked

I could see the insult rising to her lips She was rolling it around on her tongue like a piece of hard le that polish kill whatever helpless brain cells you had left?"

I knehat she wanted when she looked over atfor It was exactly what she had just givenmy arms over my stomach Don’t do it, I toldto hide, and she was brave--but every time she did this, every time she stood up forher Once again, my voice was locked away behind layers of caution and fear If they were to look into my file, if they were to see the blanks there and start looking into filling theive Saive me