I am all about the internet and its resources. Thanks to Beverly Williams and Steve Venus of the Royal Engineers - both thanked in the acknowledgements to Cruel Sister - the "battered Jeep" and "heavy-weight lorries" in the prologue are now an Austin Tilley with a red-painted mudguard and a pair of Morris CWT 8's.

In the cardboard box:

• a gold-lettered plaque, covered in dust and accolades
• "Uses for Lard", recently tacked on the bulletin board
• a faded wooden apple
• 6000 paperclips, assorted colors
• an electronic hole punch (best investment ever)
• Cat Haiku #2 on a yellow post-it
• two three-ring binders, bulging with theft and midnight oil
• a pile of letters waiting to be sent from the past to the future
• sixteen red pens without caps; some that actually work
• a Lancer Pride! t-shirt, size medium
• a scrapbook full of London memories (vomit in St. Paul's not included)
• eight years
• a chance to start over

Kristin, I like that!

So do I.

A lot.

wrod.

This is about a character in what I would call my WIP if it existed much outside my head:

"Ainsley's Purse"

It almost looks like a real Vuitton, but inspect the seams and you can tell it was $10 from a street vendor. Inside, the gummy pacifier she keeps thinking her daughter is still young enough to need nestles next to her passport, marked by previous escape attempts and carried in the hope of another, among a chaos of Stila cosmetics. Her pills, obtained with feigned complaints of back pain, are in a side-zipped pocket, alongside a silver iPod mini loaded with '80's pop. The wallet bristles with credit card receipts and phone numbers, but holds no money at all.

marked by previous escape attempts and carried in the hope of another

neat

Thanks, connie.

And (while I'm feeling bold) here is a companion piece, about Ainsley's sister.

"Abbey's Purse"

It's a black canvas tote bag, so basic as to be invisible. Mostly, it has her niece's stuff in it -- a stuffed rabbit sticky and purple with grape juice residue, baggies of pretzels and raisins, a stray juice box, barrettes, baby wipes and a pair of toddler-sized underpants. A separate compartment holds all that is Abbey's -- a dogeared Douglas Adams paperback, cherry chapstick, $17.63 in change and small bills, an expired student ID, keys (also sticky). The tape of her songs lives in her inside jacket pocket, waiting for the right moment to be shared with the world.

Thank you so much for the reaction to the drabble. It just...happened. And it is as poignant and frightening to me as it is exciting.

Lyra, yours are very evocative, and I want to know moremoremore, now!

Kristin, yours is wonderful, even if I didn't know the background. I love this:

two three-ring binders, bulging with theft and midnight oil

beyond reason, but I think that this

a gold-lettered plaque, covered in dust and accolades

Would both scan better and leave the reveal for the end if you swap the nouns:

"covered in accolades and dust" since the accolades came first, and have been covered by an accumulation of dust. Just my take. Effective, either way.