A Circle of Care
The train swayed. Mason glanced around. “Can we clear some space?” he asked. People shifted. A college student stood to offer her seat. An older woman pressed a bottle of water into Mason’s hand. A man in work boots took off his jacket and rolled it into a cushion.
“May I sit with Biscuit between us?” Mason asked the girl. She nodded. He guided them to the seat, knees angled into the aisle, one arm braced across the pole—the human equivalent of a seat belt that never touched her.
