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The Firefly Lane girls

In Kates drea her bike at ht with her best friend beside her in a darkness so co invisible She re ribbon of asphalt bordered on either side by deep gullies of rass Before they o nowhere at all; it was just a country lane naed blue and green corner of the world Then they saw it through each others eyes

Let go, Katie God hates a coward

She ith a start, feeling tears on her cheeks She lay there in her bed, wide awake now, listening to a winter store outside In the last week shed lost the ability to distance herself from her memories Too often lately she returned to Firefly Lane in her dreams, and no wonder

Best friends forever

That was the proo, and theyd believed it would last, believed that so chairs on a creaking deck, talking about the ti

Now she knew better, of course Forherself that it was okay, that she could go on without her best friend Sometimes she even believed it

Then shed hear the , a bad Muzak version of "Youve Got a Friend" had ht there next to the radishes

She eased the covers back and got out of bed, careful not to waken thedown at him in the shadowy darkness Even in sleep, he wore a troubled expression

She took the phone off its hook and left the bedroom, then walked down the quiet hallway to the deck There, she stared out at the store As she punched in the familiar numbers, she wondered what she would say after all these silent months, how she would start Ive had a bad weekapartor simply: I need you

Across the black and turbulent Sound, the phone rang

And rang

When the answering machine clicked on, she tried toas small and ordinary as words "Hey, Tul Its ize to me—"

Thunder echoed across the sky; lightning flashed in staccato bursts She heard a click "Tully? Are you listening to this? Tully?"

There was no answer