Ben lays down the scissors, pulls open the chain of paper dolls, and sets it aside. His hand hovers and trembles over the coloured pencils on his desk. It’s the first day of fifth grade and the teacher has demonstrated how to cut out the dolls and decorate each one to show something different about your life outside of school, saying it’s to help you get to know one another. The girl on one side of him has almost finished and her dolls are all colours, one wearing a swim suit, another in a ballet outfit, another in a t-shirt with smiley faces, he can’t quite make out her fourth doll, and the boy in front of him has done up his in different sports uniforms. When Ben’s finished, one of his dolls has a red smear under what could be seen as a swollen nose, but french fries with ketchup in its right hand; another doll has a dirty ripped T-shirt, but leaves from a climbing tree are sprinkled on its shoulder; the third has its hands over its ears, but a thunderbolt above; the last doll seems to be asleep, but its clenched hands are holding a blanket tight around itself. He’s not stupid, he knows he can’t share real life here, but he never can bring himself to straight out lie.

~ Louella Lester