Sky and earth are balanced. When one is moving, the other is still. Anonymous PART ONE: CHARLEVOIX 1966-1970 HIGH SCHOOL (Valentine) I hunched over a desk in Junior year Study Hall at Charlevoix High School, chin in hand, watching the snow drift outside like fog, on a Tuesday morning. As the snow brushed against the high, old windows, it made a swishing sound. Somebody sauntered by in the hall outside. My index finger tra...

DEKALB 1972-1974 UNIVERSITY (Nicki) I lay naked with Ross in the grey room, my heart beating hard. Though we had removed our clothes, I still felt very warm. Her animal scent was heavy and forbidding. I gazed at her triangle of hair, squat and black. Then I stared across the room, without thought. Wind hissed through the trees outside her Douglas East dorm room in DeKalb. Tentatively, I slipped my arm around Ross and graz...

PART THREE: CARMEL 1977-1980 FACTORY (The Yellow Kid) Groggily, I stumbled through the Realtek breakroom to the timeclock. As I punched in, I held onto the clock. Realtek was a plastics factory on the outskirts of Carmel, a small town near Charlevoix. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted a new girl, a thin, young blonde. I shuffled to the back of the factory and began unfolding and assembling cardboard boxes, stacking the...