After the scarlet fever, when Win couldn’t get out of bed for the longest time, and she was too weak to hold a book, she would just lie there and watch a birds’ nest on one of the tree limbs. She saw the baby swallows hatch and learn to fly. One day, she complained that the window was so dirty, she could barely see through it, and it made the sky look grayish. So from then on, Merripen always kept the glass spotless. Sometimes he climbed a ladder to wash the outside, and you know how afraid of heights he is. You never saw him do that?”
