My father plowed under our fields to make the landing space for his helicopter. Jenna’s father thinks my father is lazy since he only flies three times a week and is back by dinnertime. My father thinks Jenna’s father should mind his own business.

I open my eyes and stare at the page. I see the black letters. But I also see the pinks and greens and purples and yellows. I can’t say I’m surprised.

Lean back, tighten abs, keep arms locked, look for a place to land my hands.

No,” Ray says. “He’s getting paid in magic beans. Of course he’s getting real money!

May you fall from the top of the Chrysler Building and may people lean out their windows and hit you on the head with a baseball bat as you go by.

Okey – ” “Don’t say it.” “Dokey.

Why do you like books so much?” he asked. Miles answered without taking his face away from the window. “You never know what you’ll learn when you open one. And if it’s a story, you sort of fall into it. Then you live there for a while, instead of, you know, living here.

Whoa!” she says as I plow into her. ” What are you DOING? Get off me!” I hang on tight. “Can’t a girl just hug her big sister?” She stops fighting me. “Are you dying? Am I dying? Did Grandma die? I laugh. “No one died.” “Then get off!

The future is all possibilities, but the past is set in stone. All those ghosts of ourselves, our youth, still alive inside us, but out of our reach forever. We meet them when we close our eyes, when we let our memories come alive. But that’s all they are. Memories. No more real than a dream.

The words Wow, you’re strong for your age almost come out of my mouth, but that doesn’t sound very polite.