Finding Dorothy

by Elizabeth Letts

“That’s what I do,” Matilda said. “You’re old enough to learn that crying gets you nowhere. If you pinch yourself, it will remind you that it’s better to be strong—when you’re strong, then you can fight.”

But Maud had learned some bitter lessons in her life—and perhaps one of the hardest was that you can’t always rescue people, no matter how much you want to.

Of course she was acting, but there was something about her anguish that seemed too real, as if the girl’s heart was constantly poised on the cusp of breaking, so that just the slightest provocation brought her sorrow to the surface.