floor. She took each mewing kitten and laid it on the rag. then quickly wraptogether. the corners “Please hurry and die,” she moaned. “Please, God, let them die fast.” The cold streams of tears ran down her cheeks and into the cracks between her lips; they tasted salty. She wiped her cheeks on her shirt sleeves, but her nose was running; she couldn't get a handkerchief, so she_ sniffed hard. Janet quickly dumped the squirming denim into the icy water. Bubbles of air floated to the top of the water She could hear the and popped. mewing and feel their tiny legs kicking against her hands. She gazed around the basement at the piles of brown cardboard boxes filled with bottles of peaches and tomatoes and a box filled with nails and wire and hammers and screw drivers. They smelled of grease and dirt. She saw the brown bushel basket filled with red apples and the white detergent spilled on the floor. The odors of all these things faded as her nose clogged. Janet felt the bundle of kittens stop kicking. “Oh. finally,” she sighed. She sniffed again and pulled them out of the water. The water dripped back into the full pail. She reached over to a shoebox next to the washer, took the lid off, and put the kittens into it without unwrapping the wet cloth. They started to move and heads poked around. A new rush of tears came. “Darn it!” she cried, “darn itl’ Janet lifted them out of the box and dashed them into the cold water again. They kicked. She wiped her face on her shirt sleeve. It felt hot and sticky, and her swollen eyes ached. She could hardly see through the haze of mucus and tears. She rested her forehead on her knees and minutes passed. Still they kicked and Mibs floated to the top. Janet's body heaved, and she felt sure she would throw up. “Oh, Mibs,” she cried. The tiny ribs poked through the striped hair that lay flat against his mousy body and the little claws stuck out of his paws. She sniffed the liquid from the end of her nose, and held the submerged cloth with one hand, and wrapped her fingers around Mib’s stomach with the other. She took a deep breath and squeezed her fingers tight around his stomach until tiny air bubbles came out of his nose. She let go, hoping his lungs would fill up fast with water. She squeezed again and released. Mibs, please be dead,” she sobinbed, and choked because the side of her face felt so swollen she couldn't get any air in or out. Her burned, and the top of her eyes hand ached. and let go of the cloth, Janet the other two kittens floated to the top. She squeezed their stomachs too, over and Then, she pulled the over again. cloth from the bottom of the pail, wrung it out and laid it flat on the floor. Pulling each dripping kitten from water, the laid she it on the cloth and wrapped up the corners. She put the bundle in the box. A tiny gray leg poked out Janet She screamed and heard a mew. lid. the on ed slamm “1 hate you all,” she yelled. She heard her father’s heavy footsteps, and the storm door slam, as he came through the She picked up the steps, “Here,” she She turned, door the hollow stairs. up the box, ran blindly and thrust it at him. Ml screamed. “Bury them ! ignoring surprised the look on his face, and ran down the stairs, through the damp gray basement, and into her dark room. She threw herself onto the bed unable to cry any more. Janet thought of waking up in a dark, wet rag, un- able to kick herself free. She swam and the weight of the water squeezed her head until she didn’t think any more. (30) Jane can throw the ball. THE VACANT MARTHA PECK “So LOT There was the choicest vacant lot next to my house where me and my friend Marilyn and the rest of the fellas in our neighborhood used to play football and baseball. We had always played football and baseball, me and Marilyn and the felias in that lot. Until they came. They had to come and ruin it all. Early one sunny afternoon me and Marilyn were playin’ baseball with the rest of the fellas, when up walks this skinney old man and a dumb lookin’ little girl with a long mousey brown ponytail. He was about as old as my Daddy, | guess. ‘Cause his hair was turnin’ gray like my Daddy’s. She was about nine, same as me. | remember | laughed at the man when he came up to me. He had a piece of Kleenex stuck to his skin with dry blood on it. It was below his nose in the crease above his mouth. I guess he cut himself shavin’ like my ‘Daddy did sometimes. He came up to me and rubbed his hairy hand over my short black hair. ‘Well, my little black haired, blue- | see, so | see,” he said put- tin’ one hand on my shoulder and the other above his eyes to shade them from the sun. He turned to that stupid lookin’ girl whose mouth looked like @ bee just stung Katherine the lot.” “All it and darling, right, said, “Come let’s look Father,” she on, around said takin‘ hold of his hand. She wouldn‘t even look at me. Course, maybe she couldn’t see me through her thick glasses. They and said walked over past hello, then to the Marilyn fellas, then walked the rest of the way around the lot and left. Crumb, Marilyn sure wasn’t as dumb lookin’ as that Katherine. My daddy said Marilyn and | were different lookin’. Marilyn has a blond ponytail, and | got short black hair. ‘Sides Marilyn is tall, an’ Daddy says darned well-developed for a_ tenyear-old. | am short, and sorta flat. But we aren’t as different lookin’ as Katherine. | forgot about them until my Daddy came home from work an’ asked me what I’d done that day. | told him about that man comin’ with that girl | told him how stupid lookin’ she was, too. eyed beauty, what are you doing?” My Mother said it wasn’t nice to Now, | thought that was a pretty talk about that girl. She said, even stupid question. ‘What are we doin’?” if she wasn’t so good lookin’ that ! says smellin’ his shavin’ lotion. It still didn’t give me any right to talk was the spicy kind my daddy didn’t about her. My Mother always said like. “What do you think we're doin’? \ things like that. She always ruins my Me and Mariln and the fellas are fun. playin’ baseball.” | forgot about them until one cloudy (3 )