Alyson laughed. "Yeah. Not that they're anything alike. Bill's big and loud.
He's an amazing chef. Will... I don't know him so well. He's quiet. Always
wearing tight black turtlenecks. He's really cute, usually curled up on the
couch with a cup of tea balanced on his chest and his nose in some book. I
think he's gay."

"I wish I had friends like you do. That sounds so nice. Just to hang out
with nice people. Even if they are older than me."

Alyson laughed. "They're my only friends here. Well. I like you, so I think
I just made more."

Jennifer smiled at her. "I like that. I really like that."

"I like it too. I'm so glad I met you."

"Alyson?"

"Yeah?"

"This is really good soup." Jennifer blushed. I hope she's not getting a
crush on me, Alyson thought.

"Thank you. It's not much. I eat a lot of it." Alyson watched Jennifer's
face, noticing the eager looks and the

"Is there more?"

"Help yourself." Definitely crushing. Breaking that is not going to be fun.
"Mind if I check on Raven?"

"Nah, it's fine."

Alyson slipped into the bedroom and shivered. There was frost on the window. 

"Raven?" Raven stirred and didn't wake. Alyson knelt down and felt her
forehead. Still hot. And in the cold room, she thought. 

She stood up and slipped back out the door, holding the knob carefully to
not even click. She found herself thinking about Raven's neat rows of
dreadlocks, so easily bundled up and tied with the scarf she had with
her. I wish I could do something to my hair.

Jennifer looked up, spooning soup into her bowl. "Thank you again. This
really is good."

Alyson smiled softly. "I'm glad you like it." Her face got more serious. "I
think she needs more medicine... I didn't want to wake her. But the fever's
still going."

"Okay." Jennifer set her bowl on the stove and grabbed the medicine from
Raven's backpack. She slipped into the room. Alyson listened through the
closed door. 

"Hey dear." Muffled noises. "You need more medicine. Your fever's really
high." a pause "Your fever's really high". More muffled noises. "It's gonna
be okay. Yeah. You should sleep." Jennifer slipped back out and the door
clicked into place.

"Is there a way to get more heat in there?" Jennifer sounded worried.

"I wish. The door open helps a little, but not much. It's on the cold side
of the building, and the landlord has the thermostat. She sets it to
whatever she can get away with. There's a quilt in the basket at the foot of
the bed, though."

"Oh!" Jennifer slipped back in the room. "Here. Yeah. There's more
blankets." 

Alyson poured the rest of the soup out of the pot into her bowl and filled
the pot with water to soak. She shivered as she dipped her hands in the icy
water, too impatient to let it heat up. She scrubbed and watched the clouds
and snow blow around the point jutting out into the ocean to the west. How
much longer is this cold going to last?

She finished scrubbing and went to the livingroom to find a sweater, then
curling up on the couch with the bowl of soup. She put her fingers against
the bowl until it was uncomfortably hot. She heard the click of the bedroom
door and looked up to see Jennifer coming out of the kitchen. 

"Hey... everything okay in there?"

"Yeah. She's just anxious. I think the fever and ... well, being indoors
isn't her normal mode of operation." 

"I can imagine."

Jennifer sat down next to her on the couch.

"How'd you meet Raven?"

"I was hanging out with a bunch of friends, window-shopping. She skated past
me and was kinda checking me out. She came by again... I kinda followed
her."

"Sounds like fun. I wish I had time to meet people ... it's so hard, I work
all the time."

"Yeah," said Jennifer. "What do you do for fun?"

Alyson bit her lip self-consciously. "I'm a little weird I guess. I knit. I
draw. I used to play the guitar, but I've been too tired and I left my
guitar at my mother's when I moved out. I love old radio plays. I used to
check them out of the library, but I haven't been there in a while."

Jennifer grinned. "I like guitar. What do you draw?"

Alyson "People. Where I grew up. Things. I haven't much since I moved... I
haven't really unpacked, and I've been here more than a year. Work."

"Have anything I could see?"

Alyson nodded and fished around in a box in the corner of the living room
and pulled out a couple of big black sketchbooks.

"Look at this one first."

Jennifer leafed through the pages. Delicate sketches of leaves and trees and
flowers graced the pages. Careful, deliberate handwriting gave the names of
each one, in latin, in English. A sketch of a woman sitting at a desk.

"Who's that?"

"That's my mother. I was at work with her that day."

"Wow. You're really good." 

"Not really." Alyson shifted in her seat.

"Yes, really!" Alyson couldn't help but be amused at Jennifer's enthusiasm.

More pages. More leaves. A black and white spotted cat. "That's Soccer Ball.
My dad loved that cat."

Jennifer smiled. 

"More tea?"

"Yes, please."

Alyson started for the kitchen. She watched the world outside the window
above the sink again, filling the tea kettle. There was a huge tanker out on
the ocean. Gray clouds hung flat over the horizon. 

She set the kettle on the stove.

"Oh, wow. I really like this one." came Jennifer's voice from the other
room.

"Which one?" Alyson struck a match and the burner lit with a 'foomp' and
walked back to the living room.

"She's really pretty" Jennifer said. Alyson peeked over the page and saw
what she was looking at and felt her face get hot.

"Oh. Um." She was acutely aware of Jennifer looking up at her.  "Thanks."
She tried not to let her voice squeak from embarrasment.

"Who is she?"

"My friend Lyssa." She struggled to breathe normally. I wish I could fit
under the couch, she thought. I could hide there until I stop blushing.

"Wow, she's so pretty. She let you draw her naked?"

More blushing. Damnit! I shouldn't be so sensitive like this!

"She was my girlfriend. Kind-of anyway."

"What's a kind-of girlfriend?"

"She was my best friend, from the time I was thirteen. There aren't a lot of
people in that town, and I lived up out of town a way. There's a little
cluster of houses -- ten or so -- right around a bend in the road. She lived
in that same group of houses, about a mile away from my house.

"Her mom worked a lot, travelling. It's one of the ways to make enough money
when you live out there. With the mines closed, it was really hard for
everyone. She worked for some company in the city. Sometimes her mom would
be gone for a week at a time, and she'd stay over at my house.

"We were always really close. I had the biggest crush on her ever. I think
she might have been just indulging me. I'm not really sure. We spent a ton
of time together. A lot of it just wandering around the woods. She loved
anything natural, and I liked being out in the woods. We had a tree fort
when we were fourteen. 

"When I was sixteen, I asked her if she'd be my girlfriend. She didn't
really answer. We kept on, the same as before, though. We'd hang out for
weeks when her mother was gone, and