She
eased
the
scissors
through
the
cloth
,
taking
care
to
cut
with
the
heart
of
the
blade
and
not
the
tips
.
It
was
late
?
too
late
?
her
eyes
blinked
unevenly
,
and
her
pauses
in
cutting
lasted
longer
than
she
liked
.
But
the
dawn's
approach
couldn't
be
rescheduled
.
She
had
to
work
.
Later
,
hand
-
stitching
the
suit
jacket
,
she
slipped
the
needle
into
her
opposite
index
finger
three
times
before
she
realized
she
was
bleeding
.
Why
wasn't
she
wearing
her
thimble
?
Why
hadn't
she
seen
the
red
beads
blotting
into
the
fine
off
-
white
linen
?
She
rubbed
the
back
of
her
hand
across
her
forehead
.
She
took
a
sip
of
water
.
My
refusal
to
wear
the
same
outfit
twice
is
getting
out
of
hand
,
she
thought
.
Question
:
Until
the
last
line
,
what
did
we
infer
was
a
possible
reason
this
character
was
sewing
so
late
at
night
?
____________________
____________________
,
at
first
we
could
____________________
a
possible
reason
this
character
was
____________________
so
late
at
night
.
____________________
____________________
,
this
character
seemed
to
be
sewing
so
late
at
night
for
her
job
or
a
____________________
.
____________________
to
the
____________________
,
it
____________________
,
"
But
the
dawn's
____________________
couldn't
be
____________________
.
She
had
to
work
.
"
The
reader
naturally
____________________
if
she
were
staying
up
all
night
to
____________________
an
outfit
,
it
had
to
be
for
a
job
,
but
we
were
____________________
to
find
out
it
was
simply
so
that
she
wouldn't
end
up
____________________
the
same
outfit
____________________
.
