Contents

Part One

1

ONCE I SAW A VIXEN and a dog fox dancing.

2

MY MOTHER AND MY SISTER could both be movie stars,…

3

I FOUND THE POND by following the stream that lies…

4

JILLY IS NOT SOMEONE who would stop and watch the…

5

I HAD TO THINK. I had to go right back…

6

THREE WEEKS AFTER I gave Theo the Lila note, I…

7

NOVEMBER’S DAYS are shorter than October’s. The sun hangs that…

8

IN DR. CHARMIN’S class I still could not guess if Rostand’s…

9

THAT AFTERNOON I went straight to the pond. I threw…

10

BEFORE JILLY became the world’s most accomplished couch potato, she…

11

IT SNOWED, and it snowed. I could hear the crystal…

12

THERE WAS NO SCHOOL the next day, and I was…

13

DR. CHARMIN HAD SAID that I was to report to her…

14

“IT’S UP TO YOU,” I was telling Theo, “to decide.”

15

WHEN A DAY STARTS like that one had, all you…

16

AFTER SCHOOL I was three of my eight blocks from…

17

I COULD NEVER TELL YOU all the names of every…

18

AT SCHOOL MOST PEOPLE kept their distance more than usual.

19

AN EPITAPH is what they write on tomb-stones. An epigraph…

20

I NEEDED THE SCORCH of the moon and the cold…

21

ONCE I HELD A BABY BIRD, but it was dying.

Part Two

1

CHRISTMAS WAS ALWAYS my mother’s holiday. She started buying gifts…

2

I KNEW THINGS were different Christmas morning when I did…

3

I GOT A FEVER, then, and I couldn’t leave my…

4

THE FIRST FEW DAYS of January I stayed home from…

5

THERE’S A MIRROR in my parents’ room that runs floor…

6

YOU ARE BORN or you’re not born with a talent…

7

THAT AFTERNOON Dr. Charmin introduced the villanelle, another something French, she…

8

IT USED TO BE in winter that I dreamed of…

9

ONCE I SAW A PICTURE of Mom and Dad together…

10

THE NEXT MORNING Theo was at my locker with the…

11

I GOT TO THE POND as early after school as…

12

THE NEXT MORNING I asked Mom if she could clip…

13

THERE WERE DAYS after that when the only Theo I…

14

THE NEXT DAY was the thirteenth, a Friday. The sun…

15

THAT NIGHT Mom joined us downstairs for dinner. We had…

16

THERE WERE ONLY fifteen days between our soup and cheese…

17

ONCE DAD AND I went treasuring when I was nine…

18

AFTER CHRISTIAN DIES on the battlefield, Roxane retires to a…

19

ALL THROUGH the next several days I kept the poem…

20

THAT SATURDAY I rose before dawn, when the stars were…

21

THE PARKING LOT at the Border Road Rink was thick…

22

YOU EVER HAVE IT HAPPEN that a power so infinitely…


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