The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition | 
“…he saw her smile in the defensive way a fleshy girl has, alert to ward off a joke.”
This is so true. When you‘re a “fleshy girl” (as I am), you learn real quick to steel yourself against all the bulls**t that people think they have a right to say to you when you‘re fat.
And…I bet it didn‘t even OCCUR to this girl that he might be referring to her weight…until he rushed to make SURE she didn‘t think that?. (From “Up the Coulé”-Hamlin Garland).
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