“…as the #MeToo movement exploded and Women’s March anniversary rallies were planned…the record was shattered again with more than 25,000 women signing up online to learn about running for office.”

“…On Nov. 4, 2008, 69.4 million Americans voted for Barack Obama as president, helping him defeat Senator John McCain.”

“…Ocasio-Cortez’s live streams…[taking] a laid back approach.”

“…First time…Native American congresswomen are headed to the House of Representatives….two Muslim congresswomen,….two black women from MA and CT….”

“…departs from the position of the Obama administration…allowed schools to consider race in admissions decisions…advice has now been reversed.”

“…Nature does not create waste because one organism’s waste is another organism’s resource…”

“...We now think of pain as a complex and highly sophisticated protective mechanism.”

“Cats can't tell us how they're feeling, but if we observe their behavior closely we can work out a lot.”

“..Warmer water and abundant food is making the California coast much more invidint to sharks than it normally is this time of year. ”

“....many visitors found that their own bodies become quite noisy.”

“It’s not a station,” he said brightly. “It’s a Permanent Way Post. You’re on a Permanent Way Post.”

“Got a little brother, do you?" he asked. 

“You see, love?" her mom had said, smiling. "You see?"

She couldn't believe her disappointment. There were four candles in the box, that was all.

"...Hangman's noose snuffed out my light, burn little candle nice and bright..."

She felt sick.

"She was so nice about Niall. She loves little children--"

It was someone else completely

"Ssshh...ssshh...," she whispered, over and over again, rocking hi in her arms until finally, he made no sound at all. 

"What the--"

It looked all wrong---like a photograph of the yard, not the real thing.

...and in the dark of her little room, the bedside light clicked on. 

The boy said it louder than he'd meant to. 

"Rock and roll, Sam," said his dad. 

She didn't see the shabbiness of it either---didn't see the wrongness of it all. 

"So---it's been in a smash," said Frank.

"Your Lucky Day."

The whole thing stank like the canal. 

It was just like the smell of meat in the butcher's shop. 

“Not that many," the man said. "Besides, I was waiting for you to get off."

And as he began to speak, the world around the boy seemed to shift again. 

...It had been on her paper route when she used to do one--but she didn't know the actual house at all. 

They looked at each other again. 

"The fridge was full of food--plates and saucers covered in plastic film, fruit and meat still in its packaging--but how long it had all been there, there was no saying. All of it was rotten and moldy. 

"And we can open our eye really wide."

And they were still counting. 

The boy followed him.

"To how quickly the time goes," the man said, suddenly all brightness and smiles. "Seems to go quicker, though, if you're having a chat, doesn't it? But it's always the same..."

"In each one the girl's face was turned toward the camera, and she looked so frightened. 

Was that what her mom had meant about not being right in the head--was that what being ill in your head looked like?

She'd been caught in the moment of turning around, and her face was so frightened---eyes wide, mouth open--just like the old lady in the album. 

She was the only person in the whole room looking at the camera. 

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" said the boy. "Is that your 'game'--make me think your dead, scare the life out of me? Well, it's not bloody funny!"

"In the old days they used to send little boys up to clean chimneys like that," he said. "They got stuck sometimes."

As the soot of years cascaded out of it like a dirty river...