Blanket
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A
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Remember how
we used to fight over that blanket?
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B
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I do. The five
of us pulling and tussling, trying to get warm.
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A
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Jesse used to
ball up a corner of it and clamp down with her teeth. I thought she’d never
let go.
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B
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And what about
you?
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A
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What about me?
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B
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You used to
grab the side with both hands and hold on so tight that blanket was in shreds.
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A
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I did?
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B
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And you were
the oldest of the five, too. What kind of example was that?
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A
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Like you said,
just trying to keep warm. And Anna Marie, with her little feet sticking out.
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B
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Good thing for
all of us I had the big idea that one night—remember there were icicles inside the windows?
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A
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I thought it
was Jesse’s idea.
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B
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No, it was mine.
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A
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Couldn’t have
been. You could barely talk yet, then.
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B
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That’s why it
was me. I had this idea, and I started grabbing for each of you, bringing you
all closer and closer together until we were all in the middle. One big
huddle underneath the blanket. One big warm
huddle.
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A
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An idea put
into motion, instead of words.
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B
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It was either
that, or—
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A
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—Or what?
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B
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What Mom and
Dad used to call blanket punishment.
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