He thinks he is a ghost, so I pretend to be afraid; when he howls under the blanket, try not to laugh when he pops his head out in what I imagine is his version of “BOO!”

She imagines herself a swimmer; practices her strokes in the sunlight, head tilted upward, eyes on the sky, knowing she will have to work twice as hard as the birds who flit by the window, flaunting their wings, knowing it will not come easy, but determined still to fly.