69. On Thanksgiving at their grandparents’ they have turkey and stuffing, rehydrated potato flakes, and cranberry sauce slid straight out of the can, with the grooves still in it, jiggling. 

(Read in Spanish)

On Thanksgiving at their grandparents’ they have turkey and stuffing, rehydrated potato flakes, and cranberry sauce slid straight out of the can, with the grooves still in it, jiggling. They have sweet potatoes with marshmallows, which Zoe can’t eat because sweet potatoes look like orange homemade Play-Doh, which made her sick once when she ate too much of it when she was little. Zoe does eat, on the other hand, the entire bottle of aerosol whipped cream, spraying it directly into her mouth. The crime is not discovered until it is time to eat the pumpkin pie. The stores are all closed by then. Zoe does not get in trouble now, but no one is particularly happy.

The girls watch old Cary Grant movies, each curled up with their heads at opposite ends of the couch, their feet almost but not touching, and it’s alright, but Zoe laughs and cries too much. Amy says she has homework to do, and Zoe says so does she. Amy rolls her eyes. Zoe bursts into tears.

On the day after Thanksgiving their dad says he has an announcement to make. They are back at their grandparents’ eating leftovers. They put their forks down and look at each other and then at him. Although it’s been a hard decision, says their dad, and Amy’s sure he’s going to say that he and their mom are getting a divorce, but looking at her mom it doesn’t look like that, so then she wonders, and their dad clears his throat and says, I have decided to accept a job in Minnesota, at the Rochester Community and Technical College. It’s too good of an offer to pass up, he says, and the best part of it is it has full medical for all of us, and the hospital in Rochester is one of the top ten hospitals in the whole world.

In the hush that follows all the things one the earth come unstuck and fly off into space very fast. Amy sees Zoe off in the distance against a black black sky, smaller and smaller and smaller.