Red Kayak

Brady's aunt meets him at the train station, along with his cousins Kevin and Emily. When they get back to the house, Kevin leaves for a music lesson and Brady watches Emily play with dolls. Doing so reminds him of Amanda, who would be roughly the same age as Emily if she'd lived. Eventually, though, he grows bored and goes to ask his aunt if she needs help cooking dinner. She doesn't, so he settles into the den and begins flipping through somefamily photo albums.

Brady skims through the photos, enjoying the memories they bring back. Eventually, he comes across one of his mother holding Amanda. His aunt walks in on him as he starts tearing up, and he says that he's never seen a picture of his sister before. When he wonders why his parents don't have any photographs, his aunt says that they must have found the reminders too painful. Brady, though, complains that "It’s like Mom and Dad packed her up and put her away. Like they wanted to pretend she never existed" (140). Brady's aunt gently tells him that he can keepthis photo if he wants, and Brady puts the photo in his wallet, where he says it was "a comfort" (140).