Summary

The story “The Gift” opens in Miami, Florida in the early 2010s. The main character is a woman named Anika, who has no spouse or children. She used to have a secret romantic relationship with a man named Thomas. Anika and Thomas are both originally from Haiti. Thomas would see Anika whenever he visited Miami for business. He had a wife and a child, but they recently died in the large earthquake that struck Haiti. Thomas stopped seeing Anika after that tragedy. Anika is a painter. People commission her to do portraits of them in which Anika paints the people as birds. Anika and Thomas have dinner together in a restaurant in Miami. It is the first time they have seen each other since the death of Thomas’ wife and child.

Thomas used to be dapper and confident, but he...