“Nice to meet you,” Herodotus said in a neutral tone.
“I needed an abortion when I was seventeen,” Cyd said without further prelude. “I didn’t have anyone who’d go with me, and I was scared to death. As I went up the walk, a bunch of protesters crowded around me. They yelled at me, saying I was a horrible person, a baby-murderer, even a w***e. They carried all those big signs saying how bad abortion was. Some of them had those ugly pictures of fetuses. I nearly collapsed in tears on the sidewalk.
“Then she came out of the clinic and walked up to me. The crowd got kinda quiet and parted for her. She walked straight up to me and put her arm around my shoulders, and I suddenly felt strong enough to stand up straight again. She walked me through the crowd and up the steps of the clinic, and
