[Warm]

*After grading the day's essays, Iya lies across her bed and thinks about her last conversation with her mother. Do I seem THAT desperate, that lonely? Maybe Mama just needs to get a life and leave mine alone...Alone...The word seems to take on a life of its own, filling the room with its presence. In an attempt to escape the word, Iya quickly gets up from the bed and rushes out of the bedroom and into the bathroom where she runs a tub of hot water, strips herself down to nothing, and sinks into relaxation.*