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away. Soon they were airborne. The smell of bodies filled the warm atmosphere of the plane, bodies that had left home a good twenty-four hours before this flight.
    As soon as the seat belt sign went off, somebody started hammering the back of her seat. She turned around to see a young boy slamming his food tray up and down. She looked at the lady next to him, a short woman with a very disgusted look on her face. "Don't look at me, lady," she said. "He's not mine." She pointed across the aisle to a woman sleeping, oblivious to the rowdiness of her four children.
    The pudgy woman next to her turned and showed her an inexpensive wedding ring. "I'm gonna be with my husband, Joe. We just got married. Adak's gonna be our home."
    Latisha smiled. "Home?" What a wonderful word. That's what she was looking for, wasn't it?
    "Oh, yes, my Joe says we're gonna work in the factory and build a little cabin by a lake. I even brought some curtains. My name's Maggie - " she giggled slightly " - Britt. I'm not used to my new name yet. What's your name?"
    Here was one woman, at least, who didn't know she was Boss Gilmore's wife.
    The plane hit some turbulence and bounced.   A child threw up.   A beer bottle sailed up the middle aisle and bounced off the cabin door.   "When you gonna learn how to fly, you asshole?" a woman called out.
    "Oh my," Maggie said.
    Latisha ignored the incident and introduced herself    "My name's Latisha Gilmore."   It felt good to say who she was without saying the word, boss.
    "What does your husband do?   I - I mean what's his job?"
    What could she answer?   Professional criminal?   "He's in - entertainment."
     
    "That's nice," Maggie said.   "People need to laugh.   I'm just so excited."
    "Where are you from?" Latisha asked.
    "Chicago.That's where I met Joe.   We worked in a factory together before he - " her voice dropped " - went to jail.   Where are you from?"
    I'm from everywhere, Latisha thought.   Everywhere the tornado of James T. Gilmore touches down.   Detroit, New York.   What did it matter?   Home was an apartment with a bed, a refrigerator and a bathroom, a place to laugh and love and eat breakfast, a place for him to run his rackets, a place for her to be alone when he was arrested.
    "Detroit," Latisha said.
    "Joe and I will be on Adak for twelve years.   It's going to be home."   Maggie spoke as if that was wonderful news, like twelve years on a tropical island.
    Latisha smiled."Fifteen for Gil and me."Fifteen years.   It was difficult to imagine him sitting still in one place for fifteen years, but on Adak he had no choice.   Even though there'd be no bars or prison guards on Adak, the Coast Guard would be patrolling the waters around the island to prevent escape.
    It was time for home and a family.   That's what he'd promised, "a new beginning on Adak, a family."   He would go to work and she would raise the children, and on weekends they would have the neighbors in.
    Suddenly, she doubted the whole thing. " Ohhhhh ," she said out loud,
    "What's the matter?"
    "It's just - I don't have your faith in the future."
    Maggie touched Latisha's hand.   "Everything's going to be okay."
    Maybe, but Maggie didn't understand that it wasn't only Gil she doubted.   She doubted herself.   Who was she?   And what did she want?   A family?Yes.   But more, much more.
    She longed for Maggie's simple faith.
     
    Latisha sat back.She'd gone over the whole thing rationally. She was thirty-five and if she were ever to have a family, it had to be soon.    A family with Gil?   Yes, that's what she wanted.   She loved him, but love had limits.   Six months, that was it.   She'd stay six months.   If things didn't work out, she'd leave and he could serve out his fifteen years with his cronies and his organization.
    Her boss at Sears had told her she'd always have a job.   She was a buyer for them, an expert in home medical supplies.   It was a good job - but only a job. She'd been