The curly brown hair sat on the bedtable along with a blue ribbon loose and trailing. The pillow was cool to her head. Meg heard her daddy murmuring soft as a whisper, smelled the gardenias of her mommy's perfume.

In her head she reached up and patted their faces, told them she was okay. In her head she colored with crayons in her new Barbie coloring book. For once, every crayon was unbroken and pointy, and for once, she stayed inside all the lines.

Meg drifted off into dreams where a man dressed in silver that lit up like a lamp in the sun, set her atop a white horse.