057

She sighed and leaned her head in her hands, elbows on the kitchen table. I'd knocked all the wind out of her sails. Without looking at me, my mother replied in a tight, small voice, as if she was trying not to cry. "Goldberg. Her name was Jess Goldberg."

With her name in my ears, my memories suddenly felt as clear as when they first happened. Everything about Jess--her smell, her laugh, the way she looked at the eagles at the zoo the day she told us she was leaving--came into focus.

Jess Goldberg.

I was going to find her.

--

When we have time again, let's write Stone Butch Blues fanfic with Kim as the narrator on the search for Jess. Please, please, please. I need for that story to occur.

...Don't ask why I'm half-trying to mimic Jess's narration when I want to set it in Kim's POV. I just want to. Besides, questioning why I wanted to write Stone Butch Blues fic in the first place is probably a smarter place to start.