Section 2: pages 8-21 Summary

In "Battleground State Park" by Martha Christina, as her mom and dad sit on opposite sides of the picnic table, he serves potato salad, while she stares impassively. Though the pitch of her mother's voice frightens her even in song, the author wants her to sing some ancient Shawnee chant now. She wants to vanish into the woods with her mother, her father calling after them to go. Their lives play out a different story, but she still believes "we could have been happy" (p. 9). In Amy Adams' "Nine," Benjamin sits in the top bunk late at night, wide awake, and begs the author to sleep in the bottom bunk. Last thing at night, he kisses Hannah good night and hugs the author. Benjamin lingers in Christine's doorway because she is older now and "has seen a world he...