Even for Odessa, this summer is hot. The sun rolls across the sky with big spiny ragged arms and burns everything in sight. Shadows are deep and inviting pools of coolness that disappear as you get close, like mirages in the desert. Everything lies half-dead, scorched, flat.
It’s the summer before Claire starts high school. Public high school, it’s been decided, although her dad fought mightily against the idea. She’s not sure why. Lyle goes to public school. She knows she’s Daddy’s favorite, but she doesn’t quite get why she gets coddled, why she’s so special. But Mom won the fight, and that means Claire will enter the real world come September.
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