Her voice, high and clear, moved through the leaves, through the sunlight. It splashed onto the gravel, the grass. He imagined the notes falling into the air like stones into water, rippling the invisible surface of the world. Waves of sound, waves of light: his father had tried to pin everything down, but the world was fluid and could not be contained.

It seemed there was no end at all to the lies a person could tell, once she got started.

She saw herself moving through another life, an exotic, difficult, satisfying life.

I've been accused of trying too hard to rescue people

So something had begun, and now she could not stop it. Twin threads ran through her: fear and excitement. She could leave this place today. She could start a new life somewhere else.

It's funny how things seem different, suddenly.

Grief, it seemed, was a physical place.