I’ve not finished this story yet, but it is truly delightful and with no further explanation but the title (above) let me share this, a scenario in which Claudette, the narrator is paired with Mirabella, a younger girl to feed the ducks down at the pond to practice compassion:
It wasn’t fair. They knew Mirabella couldn’t make bread balls yet. She couldn’t even undo the twist tie of the bag. She was sure to eat the birds; Mirabella didn’t even try to curb her desire to kill things–and then who would get blamed for the dark spots of duck blood on our Peter Pan collars? Who would get penalized with negative Skill Points? Exactly. (p. 331)
The voice in particular is so consistently endearing in this story–I really wish I could say I’d written this one–by Karen Russell. More in a bit.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
Just checking up and saying hullo. Well… actually, the first thing to occur to me was baby-rab-a-dab, but i’m quite sure that’s not an actual word. Which really shouldn’t limit me, now that i think about it. So baby-rab-a-dab to you, Susan.
And a joyous baby-rab-a-dab to you too, Anne.
I just love that we understand each other. …or should I be worried?
If two friends can’t be peculiar together, then what the hell, eh?