The embrace is a small, domestic rebellion.

They have come home shattered. Lately, that is how they always return. They have felt shattered for quite some time now. "Time"—though that is hardly the word for it, since time ceases to be time when you are working just to earn money. They talk about work, the rent, and that feeling that time no longer belongs to them. When they aren't working, they are thinking about work. When they aren't thinking about work, they are crunching numbers. How much is left? How much is still needed? How much can they spend? What does it cost to keep living? Every time they go out there, they come back wounded. Luckily, they have each other. They embrace. And for a while, there are no schedules, no bosses, no bills, no productivity. They reclaim ownership of time. Tenderness is the necessary revolution. This world needs to stop and breathe. Not produce. To halt time within an embrace. Would the system collapse if we all hugged each other for ten minutes at the same time? No cars driving. No machines running. No bull dying in the ring. No police officer enforcing a terrible law. Ten minutes. Just bodies embracing. Creating that small rebellion at home. And hoping it becomes contagious. Because not even the home is secure. They pay the rent every month. Paying it costs them almost everything they have. And yet, they know that any day now, an investment fund, a landlord, or some other financial interest might decide that the house is worth more without them inside it. That is why they embrace. Let us embrace and stop time.