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7:09 A M

Everyone thinks it was because of the snow And in a way, I suppose that’s true

I wake up thisour front lawn It isn’t even an inch, but in this part of Oregon a slight dusting brings everything to a standstill as the one sno in the county gets busy clearing the roads It is ater that drops from the sky—and drops and drops and drops—not the frozen kind

It is enough snow to cancel school My little brother, Teddy, lets out a hoop when Mom’s AM radio announces the closures “Snow day!” he bellows “Dad, let’s go make a snowman ”

My dad s one recently as part of this whole 1950s, Father Knows Best retro kick he is on He also wears bow ties I am never quite clear on whether all this is sartorial or sardonic—Dad’s way of announcing that he used to be a punker but is now aa teacher has actually turned enuine throwback But I like the smell of the pipe tobacco It is sweet and smoky, and reminds me of winters and woodstoves

“You can make a valiant try,” Dad tells Teddy “But it’s hardly sticking to the roads Maybe you should consider a snow amoeba ”

I can tell Dad is happy Barely an inch of snowh school and the middle school where Dad works, so it’s an unexpected day off for hient in town, clicks off the radio and pours herself a second cup of coffee “Well, if you lot are playing hooky today, no way I’ht ” She picks up the telephone to call in When she’s done, she looks at us “Should I make breakfast?”

Dad and I guffaw at the same time Mom makes cereal and toast Dad’s the cook in the family

Pretending not to hear us, she reaches into the cabinet for a box of Bisquick “Please How hard can it be? Who wants pancakes?”

“I do! I do!” Teddy yells “Can we have chocolate chips in them?”

“I don’t see why not,” Mom replies

“Woo hoo!” Teddy yelps, waving his arms in the air

“You have far too ,” I tease I turn to Mom “Maybe you shouldn’t let Teddy drink so much coffee ”

“I’ve switched him to decaf,” Mom volleys back “He’s just naturally exuberant ”

“As long as you’re not switching me to decaf,” I say

“That would be child abuse,” Dad says

Mo and the newspaper

“There’s a nice picture of your young man in there,” she says

“Really? A picture?”

“Yep It’s about thelance with her eyebrow arched, her version of a soul-searching stare

“I know,” I say, and then withoutStar, is on an upward spiral, which, is a great thing—mostly

“Ah, fa I know he’s excited for Adam Proud even

I leaf through the newspaper to the calendar section There’s a s Star, with an even s article about Bikini and a huge picture of the band’s lead singer: punk-rock diva Brooke Vega The bit about the for Bikini on the Portland leg of Bikini’s national tour It doesn’tStar headlined at a club in Seattle and, according to the text Adaht, sold out the place

“Are you going tonight?” Dad asks

“I was planning to It depends if they shut down the whole state on account of the snow ”

“It is approaching a blizzard,” Dad says, pointing to a single snowflake floating its way to the earth

“I’e that Professor Christie dug up ” Professor Christie, a retiredwith for the last few years, is always looking for victims for me to play with “Keep you sharp so you can show all those Juilliard snobs how it’s really done,” she says

I haven’t gotten into Juilliard yet, but my audition went really well The Bach suite and the Shostakovich had both flown out of ers were just an extension of the strings and bow When I’d finished playing, panting, e had clapped a little, which I guess doesn’t happen very often As I’d shuffled out, that sa tiirl ” Professor Christie had taken that to uaranteed acceptance I wasn’t so sure that was true And I wasn’t 100 percent sure that I wanted it to be true Just like with Shooting Star’s meteoric rise, my admission to Juilliard—if it happens—will create certain complications, or, more accurately, would compound the complications that have already cropped up in the last few months