Chapter 19: A Different Question

Lan Pham came in on Sunday at four, with her shop shut behind her, red thread on her cardigan sleeve and three pins between her lips. "Take those out," Evan said. Lan parked the pins on a magnetic bracelet. "You have all become difficult." She sat on the exam stool and unlaced her right shoe. Su knelt in front of her with two fingers on the inside of the ankle, and Evan checked the skin between the toes. No wound. Temperature even. The new shoes were narrower than her feet, and he said so. "They were on sale." "So are a lot of preventable injuries." The burning had woken her twice since Thursday. Su said she could lower it, that it would cost her pain, and that fever or scales might follow. Lan looked at Evan. "That's her risk to describe," he said. "Whether it's worth it to you is…