Everything Inside

“The Gift” depicts a dinner date between ex-lovers Anika and Thomas, who have not seen each other for seven months, before the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Anika convinces Thomas to attend the dinner by promising him a present and choosing a restaurant they’d been to together many times before. When Thomas arrives, Anika is surprised to see that he is skinnier, older-looking, and less dapper than she remembered. She recalls his confidence and charisma when they met, and how she took the lead in pursuing him. Shortly after Anika and Thomas met, she learned that he was married and had a young daughter. She continued the affair, and Thomas never spoke of his family in front of her.

On the afternoon of the 2010 earthquake, Anika was teaching at Miami Dade College. When news of the earthquake arrived, she accepted an invitation to attend a dinner hosted by the Haitian students’ association, hoping that the presence of other Haitians would help to ease the anxiety and uncertainty of the earthquake’s aftermath. A local Haitian singer named Roro, who had been hired as entertainment for the event, was tasked with conducting a ritual to focus the group’s energies. He constructed a giant circle out of ties and scarves in the middle of the room, declaring it the new epicenter of the earthquake and encouraging the students to fill it with love.