Several minutes later, the area was clean.
Brenda leaned the broom against the wall.
He looked at Lily.
“Why didn’t you do that the first time I bothered you?”
Lily wiped her hands in the prison uniform.
“Because I didn’t come here to prove anything.”
Brenda looked down.
“And today?”
Lily picked up the picker.
“Today you decided that being quiet meant being weak.”
He started to walk away.
Then Brenda called her.
“Lily.”
Lily stopped.
Brenda hesitated.
The words seemed almost painful for her.
“I’m sorry.”nta zaml
Several women turned in disbelief.
Lily looked at her for a long time.
Then he nodded once.
That was it.
No speech.
No revenge.
No celebration.
But after that day, Brenda never deliberately dropped another cigarette in front of a new inmate.
And every time someone asked him why, he always gave the same answer:
