It had been so long since she’d really sung out, with her chin lifted, that she’d forgotten how the notes felt warm and bright rising from her middle, straight up her throat, and into the sky—not even touching her, just moving through her. She’d forgotten how her voice could snap at the words or flow over them like water around rocks, sometimes grounding the notes, and other times setting them free. She’d forgotten how when she sang, the sounds connected her to other people, sending out silver-fine filaments that came back again, linking them
