Red at the Bone

by Jacqueline Woodson

Guess that’s where the tears came from, knowing that there’s so much in this great big world that you don’t have a single ounce of control over.

She felt red at the bone—like there was something inside of her undone and bleeding. She wanted this thing with Jam to last. Already, she saw them growing old together—Jam with her arm around Iris’s waist in the darkness.