PTE

me down he

it sounded wrong. Too careful. He so

ons and something cheesy. Mom never made anything like that. M

s since the funeral. Ele

down

t. Both hands were clasped in front of him. He looked like a

glass dish with oven mitts on. A little gir

e was huge. "I made my famous chicke

hat hungry

," Dad

dish on the counter. Mom's coun

d that v

Dee and Brianna are going to b

how l

a w

ot a numb

with the plant's accounts for months now. And with the

been coming around since spring, always carrying

e was just t

they sleep

d, and his eyes slid away from mine. "A

fi

ip

e was small, with big front teeth and a ri

share,"

r do I,

like we were being cut

d squeezed Brianna's shoulder hard

. Nobody

a house where somebody had swapped

She baked. She called him "honey" and asked abo

r the plant, the

off in the h

't leave cups

t how we fold tow

y one of them wrapped in a b

rom school and stopped in

ll was

g me on her hip with frosting on both our noses. Mom

res on the paint whe

ey?" My voice

ds on a towel. "Oh, those. I thought we'd fr

he

in a box. Nice

my mom

head. "Nobody's putting anybo

pho

I couldn't. My throat h

o the garage in my socks. The concrete was freezing. The

h it with sh

It was the one where she's laug

t my chest and r

ake when I got

he whispered fro

thi

picture.

to s

s crooked. "Are you gonna

hy would I t

e again." She picked at the blanket. "Again" s

t her. "Le

st. "I'm going to be famous, yo

s the b

room. The one wit

Mom's rea

" I

says

oesn't get

elt bad. Then I remembered the box and the pale

er my pillowcase and

ve found a

the shower. I knew because when I walked back in with my

g the

ropped throu

er voice was soft as

d by th

She turned the photo over in her ha

t's

urse i

ght to go thro

honey. It was in your pillowc

y knees

er to. Yelling, I could handle. Yelling mea

idn't

my wet hair behind my ear. Her

s her,"

n't a

n my lap, face up. Mom was still laughing at the lake. "Memori

oked

ith her whole fac

t and still, like

it out of sight. Your father gets so sad when he sees thi

d closed the door

I learned about Dee. Sh

that I could never, e

es stopped burning. Then I tucked the photo i

I already knew how to h

t, I coul

e room. Her ribbon lay on the n

r. I tiptoed

door. Dee's voice came through, low and sh

yself again

id. A pause. "He signs whatever I put in

started

who cries into a photograph." She laughed

use. Longe

year, and the ho

i

. I slapped a hand over my mou

rs. No

i

been making m