Yu dangles the worm near her lips, tongues the air. The other kids dare her to eat it. She does. One day soon, the worms will get to eat Yu.

They are silhouetted against the western sky. He’s teaching her to fly a kite. I know when I’m not wanted, but I’m staying anyway.

“You’ll love Penny,” I told my then-new boyfriend. We were introducing each other to family and pals. So sad, he did.

For once in their marriage, he listened to her patiently. Sitting down, she started to pour out her heart, right in front of his tombstone.

“You’re just a baby,” he said in his twenty-four-year-old glory. “What could you know of making promises, at twenty?”

The monster oozes from the closet, slinks past Tim’s bed to Jon’s. It pulses wetly. Jon sobs, “No, Timmy!” It writhes, slurps. Tim smiles.