"I live in the attic, mother says it's so. I peer through the window, he peers back at me. The attic is dark, Cousin says it is not dark where I live. Cousin who lives under the stairs sometimes whispers secrets to me. The rats live in the walls, they chew on Cousin. Cousin who lives under the stairs doesn't mind. Cousin told me that the rats are kind, the rats understand how we live. Cousin tells me that there are others who don't understand how we live. Cousin learned that from Auntie, Auntie learned that from mother."

"The attic is full of books. The books teach me where the corners are. I learned how to read the things mother writes on the wall from those books. Mother writes the trees on my wall, other times she writes the sky. Mother never writes the others on the wall, the others do not talk to us Mother says. Mother is not the only one who writes on the walls. Cousin told me it is Joan who writes other things on the walls. I do not know if Cousin tells me the truth. I have not seen Joan for such a long time."