Kaya returned from a day sweeping graves to find her boyfriend’s brother Manny waiting by her door in Navotas Cemetery. He was not alone.

It was also refreshing to meet someone so open and different, even if Joi was only a ghost.

Mama said white tears taste like Koolaid. She said her own mother, Granny Liz, got immune to them when she was working for the Washington’s and the “lady” of the house would try to use them every time she asserted her right to go home and be with her own children before the hoot owl started hunting.