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“Did you letthe gray-haired hound lying in the green grass in front ofwith each pained breath he took, his pink tongue hanging outside of his mouth Each time I petted him, he let out a soft whine like it hurt him, but each time I stopped he whimpered and looked up at me like he was upset I had stopped

“A sick dog appeared on our lawn, you fed it, you kept it warm, you demanded we save it You kneas sick, you na could be done, yet you cared for him anyway I’m sure he loves you too, that’s why he wants to die with you petting hih it hurts You traded your s, Donatella; was it worth it?”

I bitto stop the tears in , but it hurt It hurt so much that the tears were like fire ants in my eyes I had to let them fall, but I didn’t want to cry so I screamed at her “YES! Doval made me smile and I’m happy I kept him! Just because he was sick doesn’t mean I should have let him die!”

“Then don’t blame me for what you have to do next Donatella; you chose what you wanted, now you have to deal hatever the consequences are”

“I’ to kill him

She knelt beside me and I lifted my chin so I could look at her It was so hot outside but not a strand of her black hair was out of place It was long and thick and curly, like mine, but she didn’t seem hot at all I had to pullIt was like the sun didn’t touch her, she didn’t even tan as much as I did ent outside…How? Because she was her, just different

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” She said toof her I wouldn’t tell her that “Your eyes, your face, every part of you is beautiful, especially this part”

She tapped ht over my heart The corner of her lips turned up as she brushed the strands of my hair out of my face, the sun behind her made it look like a halo was behind her head

“Your heart is beautiful Dona, which is why I need you to own it…Everyone loves beautiful things Everyone wants to have beautiful things Why do you think roses come with thorns? Because even flowers know that just because they are beautiful doesn’t give you the right to touch the, “Donatella, lo sai no lia, il tuo amore è come un vello d'oro, e la tua rabbia vaso di Pandora Tu sei, coli occhi, prendi un respiro profondo e pensi innanzitutto Avere grandi aspettative, non dubitare di te e non coenti e avere più pazienza di tutti gli altri Vedi la grande iine e prosperi”

“You’re going too fast! I don’t understand, Mo up at her

“I know” She smiled, really smiled, as she spoke to me “Just remember that until you do understand Remember that when you are faced with , Dona”

When she got up, she didn’t look back at reen hills There, at the very top of the hill, was uards before he came out of side of the manor This side was covered in dark red vines and here we could go to play Every tih one side had been eaten alive by the vines and the other was fighting it off Mommy hated them, she said it et rid of them, he said ‘the Irish aren’t supposed to look pretty,’

“What?” he asked Mo at her the sa on I didn’t knohat face Molanced doards atI wasn’t sure why until I looked where he did

Doval!

He was barely , all because of the needle in his side, right next to were