Island

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		Chattel Dance
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		The sun beats relentless on sandy earth, color broken by lush green breadfruit leaves and hints of red hidden in flaming trees. Black ribbon roads stretch through neighborhoods, north and south, east and west, every cardinal direction teeming with life. And out beyond busy streets and growing plants, out beyond the reach of land fighting for room to expand till it falls off and disappears, there is the sea. But do not say the world stops here; there is not an end to life, just an early thirst. Still-- gentle rain slakes the gnaw of hunger forced into the ocean's belly; it drums on the corrugated metal roof where the couple lives. She stands in the chattel house door to smell the darkened sea. Within, a baby's cry swells.