Ms. Adams walked around, making sure we hadn’t left even one bare spot of white paper anywhere. And then she handed out these extra-fat crayons, dark blue, and told us to cover up our colors, every bit of them. We rubbed and rubbed with those crayons until we laughed, because no one had told us to scribble over our work before, and also because it took so long, but then, after a while, we had done it. Every paper in the room was blue like midnight. Finally, Ms. Adams gave us wooden Popsicle sticks and told us to scratch designs into the dark, whatever we wanted. We scratched, and the colors underneath came through, surprising us.

That was how I felt that night with Sonia. Like I was waiting to find out what was underneath.

Sisters

On Sonia’s last day, we went ice-skating after school. Angus came with us. The locker room was crowded and smelled like French fries, rubber, and wet socks. Sonia and Angus were both good skaters and I wasn’t, but I didn’t mind. Sonia showed me how to skate backward, which I could do after a while, but not fast like she did it. She said not to look over my shoulder, but I couldn’t help it.

Jesse is terrible at skating. Dad took him to the middle of the ice to show him how to shift his weight, but Jesse didn’t really catch on. He fell so many times that Dad made him wear both of their wool hats, one over the other, so that he wouldn’t crack his head open.

After an hour and a half, Jesse said his feet hurt so much he was crying inside, so we all got off the ice to get fries at the snack window, which were a fat kind that we ate with little wooden forks. Then we went back for more skating, with Jesse sitting on a bench and waving every time we went around, like we were kids on a carousel. Finally, Dad said we should pack it in, and he yelled, “Last loop!”

I was a little bit behind everyone else, so that when I came around for my last stretch before the gate, they were all together—Dad, Jesse, Angus, and Sonia, just off the ice, waiting for me. They were waving and shouting, “Go, Bea!” like I was about to win a race.

I hunched over and sped up until I was going pretty fast—the fastest I had gone all day. I didn’t slow down for the gate—I just let myself fly off the ice and hit the rubber mat, knowing they would catch me. And they did.