santa clara review

"Frankenstein"

by Jennifer Bryan

In October, after I've already started the fourth grade, my father gets orders to Honolulu.  Amber and I aren't very happy about leaving.  After the move, Amber goes to school for one week before she tells our parents she's not going back to first grade.  At first, my parents think it's a game or early rebellion, like she's getting them back for moving us away from our friends and family, but the truth is Amber reinvents herself everywhere we go.  She can be a different person in the same afternoon, from the sandbox to the monkey bars.  That's just Amber.  It isn't about the move -- it's about something else.

santa clara review, Volume 94, Number 2 Spring/Summer 2007

Cover Art: Caitlin Dyer