In the photo, she stares up and away. Not at the masked men seated in front of her, or behind her, or packed tight to her right, or reflected in the window glass. Not at their shoulder patches, which say “Life - Liberty - Victory.” They’re hidden behind hats and sunglasses and stretchy white masks, clonelike in their uniforms and their numbers. The train hurtles on.
Her face is unguarded. She doesn’t hide.
It was Independence Day, America’s 250th birthday. Before the photo, the men marched in the nation’s capital and rallied at Union Station. Some carried upside-down American flags, a symbol of distress.