the larger moons showed up in the surrounding sky like serene fireflies . mario rioz was glad he was awake so that he could watch again . saturn filled half the sky , streaked with orange , the night shadow cutting it fuzzily nearly one quarter of the way in from the right . two round little dots in the brightness were shadows of two of the moons

'' we 're not leaving here without her . '' '' we wo n't . '' jessie nodded her agreement and the two of them exited the safety of the plane . jason fairchild met them inside the pilot 's room by the control tower . jessie watched as jack shook jason 's hand and introduced her . '' this is monica 's sister , my wife , jessie

he did n't do drugs and he did n't drink ; i wish he did so i could blame what he did on either of those . but he just hated us because we were n't his , and because of what we represented . my sister was six years older than me , so for the longest time , she was the one who took all the beatings he dealt . when i was old enough to understand what was happening when she 'd lock me in the closet , i started holding my own and taking my half of the beatings

'' abstract art is for abstract concepts , you mean , '' i say . '' yes , smartass , '' he growls in my ear . i 'm not sure i agree , but i 'm willing to play along . '' and which ' primal ' emotion do you think this painting depicts ? '' i ask . '' well . '' he reaches around me , indicating the left side of the
painting