Valentine:
The sun shines brightly through the window. I pull the covers around me. The warm blankets act as a membrane, protecting me from the mild chill in the air on this crisp autumn morning. But in truth, I really don't want to wake up.
I don't want to go out today. I just want to lay here and sleep. But, still, the world can't go on without me.
I swing my legs out, momentarily getting tangled in the covers. I take a moment as the cold air suddenly hits me. Then, I get up and get dressed.
Dad gave me the job of taking care of our small flock of sheep, saying it was his job a long time ago, practically on a different world, ante bellum, when Cillian was still alive.
Cillian. Dad talks, and thinks, a lot. About how he was a great, great man, who loved him, no matter what, even dying so Dad could live.
I'm walking down the path now, the one I've walked many a day, since I could tottle, I suppose. I hear barking behind me. Wait, Valentine, sheep, Valentine! I slow down for Maskee to catch up.
Todd
I watch her from the kitchen window. My daughter. My daughter. I still can't believe it. It's been fourteen years, and I still can't believe it.
She looks so much like her mother.
Viola.
"Dad?" I turn and see little Trenton come in the room. He isn't so little anymore, but he'll always be little Trent to me. He's not yet ten, but I s'pose he looks like me. At least, that's what Viola says.
Viola.
But he should be at school.
"I would," he says, already hearing the question in my noise. "But I can't find my boots." Sure enough, he don't got any boots on his feet.
"I put 'em in the closet, where they're supposed to be. Go get 'em on, and I'll drive you to school."