She sprang out from their midst like the Virgin in a busy Annunciation, calm as Mary and nimbed with that unmistakable aura of the chosen.

Harvesting, before the arrival of the mechanical canecutter, was performed by large numbers of workers wielding long knives.

We believe it is our duty to help these people, because we don't think they are getting a fair crack of the whip.

A silver sedan with tinted windows drove by me, then slowed down for no apparent reason. Its shiny rims kept spinning even as the wheels came to a stop. Custom-made rims were common where I'd grown up in California, but in New York City they were gangster accessories. […] I tried to jog away from the blingmobile.