I Wanted To Be A Ballerina. I

All Her Life She Had Wanted To Squeeze The Toothpaste Really Squeeze It,not Just One Little Squirt. [...] The Paste Coiled And Swirled And Mounded In The Washbasin. Ramona Decorated The Mound With Toothpaste Roses As If It Was A Toothpaste Birthday Cake

I Had A Very Wise Mother. She Always Kept Books That Were My Grade Level In Our House.

We Didn't Have Television In Those Days, And Many People Didn't Even Have Radios. My Mother Would Read Aloud To My Father And Me In The Evening.

The Humiliation That Jane Had Felt Turned To Something Else--grief Perhaps, Or Regret. Regret That She Had Not Known How To Act With A Boy, Regret That She Had Not Been Wiser.

Didn't The People Who Made Those License Plates Care About Little Girls Named Ramona?