Summary

The essay “Behind the Screen” describes how Jo, as a young girl, watched the local Fourth of July fireworks with her family from their front yard in the year 1962. Jo must watch the fireworks from behind the family’s screen door, in an enclosed patio space, due to her extensive allergies. Jo and her older sister Linda needle each other while their younger brother pretends to shoot them with a make-believe gun. After the fireworks, the siblings attempt some shenanigans in order to stay up later, but their mother orders them to begin their bath.

The essay “Coyotes” begins with a vivid description of a coyote hunting its lunch, which turns out to be a dream that the coyote is having. The narration bounces back and forth between short scenes of the coyote, a lone hunter, and young-adult...