So Trell laughed. He became the jokester, the wily trickster, the one always checkin’ and regulatin’, bringin’ in the laughter and the wide, wide smile with all the don’t-shoot-me, don’t-punch-me, don’t-erase-me teeth to make everyone else’s day a little easier, to make them feel more comfortable in his presence, and feel safe—a feeling he lived most days without—when they saw him, to make the blows land softer, diminish the humiliation he felt when his raised hand was never seen, to make the anger that slept with him at night and rose in the morning when he woke simmer down, simmer it all down.
Janelle Monáe, The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer (2022) — The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer