I fell easily into her stream of consciousness that ran as uncharted through life as a stream winds through woods. Kathleen was spontaneous. I was rigid in comparison.

She would come home and start packing and as I begged her not to leave she would laugh. "I'm not leaving you, silly. We're going away to camp with Jessie and Cory for the weekend."

My heart would stop, shudder, restart with a thump.