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sky and landed on us?”
    She said that would feel nice too.
    Finally, we got sleepy and went inside. Our bedroom now contained two beds and a crib. When Lynn needed to study, she used the kitchen table. Some nights I liked to put Sam on my little bed so he could sleep with me instead of alone. I did not want the oni —ogres who I knew guarded the gates of hell—to take my brother in the night. I hugged him to me all night. When he was one year old, I remembered something: At some point since he had been born, I had lost Bera-Bera and never even noticed.

chapter 5
    S AMMY WAS THE calmest baby in the world. He hardly ever cried. Lynn took care of me, and I took care of Sammy. And we all took care of one another. It’s hard to believe that for the next couple of years nothing happened. It was wonderful. We spent all our spare time with one another. In my sister’s diary entries from those years she chronicled what days Sammy learned how to walk and talk, what our homework assignments were every night, what time our parents got home from work, and any other details she could think of. She had theneatest handwriting in the world. Sometimes I would watch her write in her diary, and I was amazed at how perfect her writing was.
    Occasionally, my uncle brought us on camping trips. Lynn said that his camping trips were the most fun thing she ever did. I agreed with her about that. She asked me, “Do you agree with me all the time just because I say so or because you really, truly agree with me?” I didn’t see the difference between the two things, so I just said I didn’t know.
    Sometimes, in case she became a famous writer, Lynn practiced writing little stories in her diary:
    Once upon a time a funny witch cast a spell on all the world’s creatures. Suddenly, all the animals that used to be able to fly could only walk and all the animals that used to walk could now fly. So you saw horses soaring through the sky and preening on rooftops; you saw birds by the thousands running through the streets and along highways.And the fish, don’t even mention the fish! The fish learned to drive and the humans lived in the sea. The End.
    I think the whole reason she wrote that story was that she loved the idea of living in the sea. That was one thing that never varied about Lynn: her love of the sea. Living by the sea in California was what she looked forward to second most in life, after going to college. Owning our own home was third for her, and first for our mother.
    Every week that passed was nearly the same. School was boring and homework was boring. Playing with my brother and sister was fun. That’s the way the days went, with no surprises.
    Everything started to change the winter I was ten and a half. One unusually warm day in January all the kids from the apartments were playing dodgeball after school. Lynn was in charge, as always. She said, “Katie, you stand there. Toshi, you stand here.” And so on. She chose a little boy to stand in the middle.
    The boy flung the ball at Lynn. That wasn’t very smart, because Lynn was quick. But the ball flew up and hit her chest. She staggered back. Everyone except me laughed. My sister got almost cross-eyed, and everybody laughed more. I didn’t laugh because I knew Lynnie better than anyone.
    “Lee-uhn!” I said. I ran over to her.
    She swayed a bit but said, “I’m fine.”
    “What happened?”
    “I don’t know. It seemed swirly for a second.”
    “What seemed swirly?”
    “Everything.”
    I followed her inside. She went right to bed and slept through dinner.
    She wasn’t able to help me with my homework that night. That worried her. I got straight C’s at school. So far I had never gotten a B or a D in any subject. My father said that “C” stood for “consistency” and that he was very proud of me, so long as I was doing my best. I guess that in terms of grades I was just as consistent as Lynn was, which, when you thought about it, was surely something to be