I passed a woman on the street asking for money. Her hair was long and blonde, straggly and dirty. She looked like a friend of mine, but there was no way Ruth would be begging. Still…“Ruth?” I asked.“Nope, you got the wrong person. Do you have any spare change?” she countered, pushing a chipped blue mug in front of me.“Actually, I’m in a bit of a bind here, as you may have noticed by what I’m wearing. Do you think you could lend me some money for bus fare?”“You got a lot of fuckin’ nerve.” She sneered at me.I started to walk away, but she stopped me.“What do you have in the bag there?” She poked at it with her fingers.“Nothing, it’s just some clothes.” My eyes shifted.“So, you’ve got money then. I’ve got nothin.” She laughed and then started coughing.I decided then to gamble, figuring it might work if I showed herthe baby, maybe shock her into giving me some money. If not, it was unlikely anyone would believe her if she started screaming.“If I show you what’s in the bag will you give me some money?”“Depends … show me then I’ll tell ya.” She looked skeptical.“Okay, but you can’t scream … okay?”I opened the bag ever so slightly and showed her Lily.“Holy shit!” She jumped back horrified then moved closer to get a better look.“Hey! I told you not to scream.” I pulled away from her.“Is it alive?” she leered.I shook my head slowly.“Did you kill it?” She was fascinated.I shook my head again.“She just died and I’ve got to take her to ... umm … a funeral home … so they can bury her properly.” I hoped I sounded convincing. “Just give me some money for the subway. I promise I’ll pay you back.”She put her fingers into the cup. I expected they would be dirty and her nails bitten down. But they were soft and smooth.Her nails looked as if she’d just had a manicure. There was no polish on them, they were bare, but they were clean and white. It didn’t make sense.“Your hands are so smooth and beautiful.” I couldn’t keep myself from saying it.“I don’t really belong here. I just got some problems. Myfamily’s fucked up and I had to get away for awhile. You got bigger problems though. You should get yourself some real clothes. You stand out pretty bad in that purple housecoat.”“Thanks so much. You take care. I promise I’ll pay you back.”I entered the subway station, headed down the stairs, and through the turnstile. The ticket agent eyed me curiously, I guess because of my housecoat. I smiled at him, as if this was what Iwore every day. I stood on the platform and waited. Other riders stared at me out of the corner of their eyes, but when I turned back to them they quickly looked away.