Pam and Sandy are gone for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, and twenty minutes. Jonah stands in the living room, next to one of the windows. He pulls back the sheer curtain and looks out at Ross Street: snow-covered yards, cars, and trees; icy spots on various areas of the asphalt street; chimney smoke; funnels of snow blowing from west to east. He sees icicles hanging from the top of the window: long and pointy, semi-covered in snow, so dagger-like, different in size, ranging from four inches long to eight. He counts seven icicles in all, each symbolizing his family and Sandy.
Lucas Beam enters his thoughts; memories that can no longer be lived again. He recalls Easter and how Bobo threatened to slam his fist into Lucas’s face for disrespecting his mother-in-law; Willa calling Lucas “an arr
