politesse.

obfuscates

risible

syncopated

buttress

As a nun to her order, I am eternally joined to New York State. The phrase “penitentiary system” comes from the religious term for a place to discipline or punish those guilty of religious offenses. The word naturally shares the Latin root “paenitentia,” or repentance. It’s a small mercy that some beneficent donor gave the Bedford Hills

insensate

Gil looked at me only once, his eyes pleading and hurt, like a puppy as you drive away from the pound, like the face of a veal calf hung from his hocks, like the face of a nice man you’ve killed simply because you can.

recalcitrance,