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'I guess I hurt you, huh? When I came in?' |
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His face flushed to a deeper shade of red. 'Jeez, I'm really sorry.' |
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Cassy met John's eyes. She smiled. 'It really did work,' she said. 'This is great.' |
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'Let's do the rest,' John said. 'Bill, you can get your clothes back on and go out to help the others.' |
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He scowled down at his wet, stained clothes. |
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'It's all right,' John told him. 'Secondary contact doesn't seem to bother anyone.' |
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'What do you mean by that?' |
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'It means the rain actually has to get you,' Cassy explained. 'You can touch someone who's black, or you can touch their clothes, and it doesn't make you weird.' |
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'That doesn't make any sense,' Bill said. |
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'Maybe not,' Cassy told him. 'But it's true.' |
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Bill wrinkled his nose, then crouched and picked up his clothes and moved out of the way. |
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'OK,' Lynn said. 'Who's next?' |
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'Her,' Roscoe said. He pulled the woman up by her arms, stepped behind her and began to remove the belts while Lynn and Cassy held her. |
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Unlike Bill, she looked as if she'd been out in the rain for a long time. Her hair was black, matted down and stringy. Her nightgown was a sodden, clinging rag. The women peeled it up and dropped it to the floor. John saw that the rain had seeped right through it. She was black from head to toe. |
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Steve gave the chef a hand and they lifted her into |
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