Doing some quick revisions on "Birthstones" -- I may read it at ThinkGalacticon today. I had to cut this from my story. Hopefully it'll show up in another story. But in the meantime, I still like it. :-)
"She'd started a crossword, a coping mechanism, perhaps. A distraction. Nita had been working in pencil and clearly didn't hesitate to erase words when she made mistakes. He'd always taken some pride in doing the crossword in pen, but his wife had said that it was a sign of a rigid mind. Sarita said he was too unforgiving of mistakes, that if Suresh didn't learn to bend, he would break. A part of him wished she were here, this moment, so he could have that argument with her again. Most of him knew better."
