Out of the Blue by Sarah Ellis

over to the couch and saw it immediately. Two long skinny hands with little stubby fingers all spread out like someone saying “Stop!” Giggles bubbled up from the bottom of her stomach. She tried to turn them into coughing. The woman with the toes glared at them over her book. Erin, the brat face, just sat calmly looking into space.
    Loretta appeared with a little wheeled table. “Hi, girls. Who’s the one for ear piercing?”
    Megan pushed the giggles back into her throat. “Me.”
    â€œGreat. Do you have your studs? Perfect. Oh, aren’t they pretty? Big day, eh? I remember when I first had my ears done.”
    Loretta talked on as she dabbed something cold onto Megan’s earlobes, and then she took a towel off the table and under it was a gun. “. . . so we just fit these studs right in here. . . .”
    Megan’s giggles evaporated. The gun looked so serious and it felt heavy as Loretta fitted it around Megan’s ear. “Ready to go?”
    Megan glanced at Erin, who was staring hard. “Okay.”
    There was a loud crack and a red-hot arrow shot through Megan’s ear. It seemed to carry on right into the back of her throat. She grabbed the sides of her chair and screwed her eyes shut against the tears. Why had nobody told her how much this hurt?
    â€œOh, dear,” said Loretta, “you’re as white as a sheet. Was it bad?”
    Megan nodded her head, once.
    Loretta dabbed Megan’s ear with something that stung. “For most people it’s just not that painful, but for some it is. Sorry, sweetie. Do you want to go ahead with the second ear or not? You don’t have to.”
    Megan knew that if she thought about it she would say no, so she quickly nodded. “Yes.”
    â€œJust remember to keep breathing.”
    The cold liquid on her second ear gave Megan goose bumps, like the gentle brush of a wasp’s wings before it stings. And then another crack. She didn’t remember to keep breathing.
    â€œThere we go,” said Loretta. “Now you’ve got holes in your head. Ha-ha, just a little ear-piercing joke.”
    Megan glanced at the used cotton balls sitting on the table, each with its little smear of blood. Her fingers felt hollow. What was inside there, inside her earlobe? Little baggies of blood? Erin would know. Megan didn’t think she would ask. It was better for the inside stuff to just stay inside, and for her not to think about it. She stared at the line of her arm against the chair and tried not to cry. Of course, it wasn’t a line at all. Just an edge, the edge between Megan and not-Megan. Inside, outside, and edge. And unless you were the amazing transparent woman, all people saw of you was the edge.
    â€œ... turn them three times twice a day, and if you’re careful, you shouldn’t have any problems.” Loretta reached over and patted Megan’s arm. “Feeling better now?”
    Megan nodded. She hadn’t heard one word of Loretta’s instructions. What if she did something wrong and her ears got infected and fell off? She reached up to touch them, earlobes and earrings, hot and cold, Megan and not-Megan. It was okay. No doubt Erin had listened to the whole thing and would be able to offer paramedical advice. Megan stood up and thanked the outside edge of Loretta. The pain had dulled to a throb. Green Face and Glamour Feet sat unmoving. Time to go and exhibit her ears to the outside edge of Mum.

Chapter Nine
    THE DAY BEFORE NATALIE’S visit mum was cleaning the bathroom window frame with a Q-Tip when Megan left for Art Experience. When she got home from Art Experience, Mum was vacuuming the kitchen drawers. Megan went upstairs to escape, only to discover that Mum had rearranged the stuff in her room. She arranged everything right back to where it had been.
    That evening Mum washed the light fixtures. She was standing at a sink full of suds when Megan walked by.
    â€œWhat are