Ruth hadn't talked to my sister since before my death, and then it was only to excuse herself in the hallway at school. But she'd seen Lindsey walking home with Samuel and seen her smile with him. She watched as my sister said yes to pancakes and no to everything else. She had tried to imagine herself being my sister as she had spent time imagining being me.

Your first kiss is destiny knocking.

How to Commit the Perfect Murder" was an old game in heaven. I always chose the icicle: the weapon melts away.

but, he also said it because part of him wanted more of her, this cold woman who was not exactly cold, this rock who was not stone.

Stones and bones; snow and frost; seeds and beans and polliwogs. Paths and twigs, assorted kisses, We all know who Daddy misses! His two little frogs of girls, that’s who. They know where they are, do you, do you?

At the tips of the feathers there is air and at their base: blood. I hold up bones; I wish like broken glass they could court light....still I try to place these pieces back together, to set them firm, to make murdered girls live again.

My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered.