Note: Title refers to a practice some seventeenth-century Quakers used as a way of witnessing to their faith.

Going Naked for a Sign

Winter of freshman year, Rin trod restless daily paths throughout the shopping district. She had no sense what she was after till she saw it on display: a glove-snug dress, black, square-necked and defiant.

In a flash, she'd entered the changing room, smoothed cloth over breast and thighs. She stretched her neck, tossed her hair, breathed deep the first time ever. This is-right.

Today, her wardrobe's starker still, a wordless manifesto. Every garment- leather, velvet, stiffened silk- cuts low across her back: bares the silver-brown that slashes spine and shoulder. It is the price-her proof-of having loved.