Children are such fragile things, she thought. Arrows shot from her body, gone now beyond any calling back. She catalogued them in her mind. Clay-Boy, so smart and ambitious. Becky, so independent, so capable and vulnerable. Shirley, so beautiful and so maternal. Matt, so self-reliant and full of love and promise. John, with the talent born in his hands to play music on a piano. Mark, all business one minute and wanting a hug in the next. Luke, the handsome wild one with his eye already on some far horizon, and Pattie-Cake, too spoiled to turn her hand for herself, too pretty and sweet to
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