Free Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

to the door. All was quiet. I looked around to make sure my parents were still in their room. Then I opened the door. The light was on, and Lynn was staring into space. She didn’t even seem to notice when I opened the door.
    “Lynnie?” I said. She turned to look at me, her face blank. “Y’all need anything?”
    “Like what?”
    “I dunno. Food?”
    She shook her head. “You’re not supposed to be here. I could be contagious.”
    “What’s wrong with you?”
    “I don’t know. Anemia, I guess. That means I need more iron and have to eat liver. I have tostay in bed all day tomorrow. You and Sam have to go with Mom again.”
    “We could stay with you.”
    “Dad says no, you might get sick.”
    “Anemia is contagious?”
    “No, but maybe I have something else.”
    “Like what?”
    “The doctor doesn’t know.”
    Sometimes when I was younger and I got sick, my parents wouldn’t let Lynn in the room with me. But she used to sneak in anyway, so she could take care of me. She used to worry about me quite a bit. Now I went into the living room and lay on the floor next to the couch. I got up and checked to see if my brother’s forehead felt either too hot or too cold. He felt perfectly normal.

    By the time I woke up, my father had already left for work. It was still dark. My mother woke Sam and me and told me to dress my brother. She said our auntie Fumi, who didn’t work, was going to drive out and spend the day with Lynn. It must have been serious if Lynn couldn’t even take care of herself.
    Sam was half asleep as I dressed him. He whined a bit: “Why do I have to go? It’s hot in the car.”
    “I know. Go get your toothbrush for later.” He hurried away—he always listened to me.
    I grabbed the lunches our mother had made for us. We followed her out of the house and got quietly in the car. I decided to sit in back. I didn’t feel like being grown up today. As we drove along the dark highway Sam leaned against me as he slept. We passed the swamp, and I watched for Brenda, the little girl who had died. I also watched for swamp lights, the weird lights that locals were always saying they saw in the swamps.
    Sometimes I thought I saw something moving through the trees. But then I would realize that I had just seen moss swaying in the wind. Then I really thought I saw her! She was a pale girl running in a white dress with a dog at her side. I lowered the window. The humid air rushed in. Brenda wove through the trees before moving deeper into the swamp, so I could no longer see her. I turned to checkwhether my mother had seen, but she was staring straight ahead.
    My mother hadn’t said a word since we’d left home. I could tell that she was worried about Lynn. And even though I couldn’t see him, I knew that my father, probably hard at work right now, was worried too. The measles did not seem like such a horrible thing. I’d known many children who had gotten the measles. From what I’d heard, anemia was not so terrible either. Auntie Fumi had been anemic once. And yet my parents were very worried. I decided that was because they loved us so much, even though we weren’t always good. Lynn was better behaved than I was, of course, and so was Sam. But even if I got sick, I knew my parents would be very worried about me.
    I was sleepy, but at the plant I tried to stay awake so that I could watch out for the thug. My mother hadn’t said anything else about him. She hurried inside for her shower. A short time later the laundry girl’s mother parked across the lot. I remembered that my mother had said not to talk to the girl. But shewaved at me, so I had to wave back. Then she walked over, so I had to lower the window. She peered into the car at Sam. “I have a brother too, but he’s older,” she said.
    I had to talk to her now, because it would have been rude not to. “His name is Sam. I’m Katie Takeshima.”
    “I’m Silly Kilgore.”
    “What kind of name is Silly?”
    “It’s short for