There was such a tremendous level of confusion and certainty coming together all at once. The only real option was for it to eventually collapse on itself. With the election lost, this idea of Us vs. Them became branded into her psyche. All hope for coexisting in the same time and space became a fantasy replayed over and over again in my mind. Anyone with some assemblage of authority was packaged as part of the system. Doctors, lawyers, crossing guards, even the check out lady at the grocery store in town began to take the form of a potential threat. With the slightest glance or nod, I too could cross the line, with months then spent regaining her trust, and peeling off the labels that left all the traces of residue and doubt behind.
