"I know you don't want an umbrella, but here's an umbrella. And here's another umbrella. And another. Another. Another." -Emily Pettit, from How

6

There is this thing that the little beasts do, over and over and over again. One little beast screams into another little beast’s face, and then the other little beast emits light from its mouth. I try to understand this, and the closest I get is that this is some sort of magical greeting. I’d like to try something I tell you. I scream into your face. You sit motionless, unsure of what to do. I scream again, this time with more intensity. You begin to cry. No no no, this isn’t the way it’s supposed to happen I say. It’s never the way it’s supposed to happen.