House of Sighs
Two women, one of whom it turned out spoke decent English, cooked bones in a broth.
The younger woman wanted to know where he was from. He told her. She laughed, saying “Aussie-Aussie-Aussie-Oi-Oi-Oi!” He asked her what they were cooking, and the older woman leaned in close.
Too close
“These are knuckles,” she whispered. Danny smelled something on her breath. Something familiar. What was it? Yes, licorice. “Do you have arthritis?”
“No.”
“Too bad,” the woman replied. “Eating knuckles helps sore hands.” She smiled at him once more, showing off the spaces between her missing teeth, tongue pushing up to fill the gaps. “Eat the part that hurts. Where do you hurt?”
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