The weather warmed early that year. It was only late in the first month, still early spring, but after several sunny days in a row, warmth was already in the air.
The girl wore a plain long-sleeved T-shirt that could easily have passed for thermal underwear. Then again, she had never been particular about clothes. Stepping out of her room, she found the house quiet and peaceful. Her brother-in-law and sister had gone off somewhere again.
She did not mind.
The morning sun cleared the courtyard wall and drew a sharp line across the lawn: one side bathed in sunlight, the other still chilly in the shade.
The girl stood in the sunlight, tipped her chin toward the sun, and narrowed her eyes, quietly soaking in the warmth of spring.
Her face was a little fuller than her sister's, and the pale-gold sunlight made it look all the pinker and whiter. The flesh of her cheeks looked so soft that a fingertip might sink in with the lightest poke. Look closely, and you could still see the fine down that had yet to disappear.
A little while later—
The girl sat beside the stone table in the courtyard. A fake frog hopped tirelessly across its surface, while a Longhaired White Cat crouched nearby. Chin propped on her hand, the girl watched the frog hop, and the white cat watched too.
The sunlight grew warmer and warmer.
The girl felt she could spend the whole day like this.
So she would.
School had not started yet, anyway.
She had already finished the journals and books her teachers recommended, along with the Homework her sister had given her.
It was strange, really. That awful woman studied Plane Space. Where had she found so much Homework in her field? It was even harder