The summer built a dusty bridge to September, and I lay in bed for as long as I could, holding on to the moment before I took the first step.
-- Grace (Number Four, The Avenue (5 July 1976) paragraph 1)

Importance: Grace is resistant to begin her journey, as she intuits the road will be murky and unknown to her. Her life has predictability to it that she finds comforting, like knowing what sounds will come next as she listens to her mother make breakfast. She is, metaphorically, poised at a crossroads of staying where she is or stepping into the unknown.

The vicar climbed into the pulpit and said he was going to read from the Bible…“All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right an the goats on his left.
-- Vicar (Number Four, The Avenue (5 July 1976) paragraph 10)

Importance: Reflecting the title of...