Boy, Snow, Bird

A week after Bird sends her letter to Snow, Arturo brings back another gift from her: a birdcage with a broken door. The birdcage makes Bird happy, but she believes it is a message from Snow telling her “No more words, it was too late for them, [she’d] asked her the wrong questions” (199). Nevertheless, Bird wants to send something back to Snow; she settles on an invisible-ink pen that is sold at the bookstore. She gets a job delivering papers so that she can save up and buy the pen.

Boy leaves all the letters out on her dresser in order to show Bird that she knows about the correspondence. While shopping for groceries, Boy tries to talk to Bird about Snow but is unable to get it out. Later that evening, Boy asks Bird to remain objective about her sister; Boy tells Bird that she believes if Bird remains objective, she’ll see something doesn’t quite add up. Bird tells her she needs to wake up early and pretends to go to sleep; however, instead of leaving, Boy remains, staring out the window. In the morning, she’s gone, but has killed several spiders.

Bird attends a conference for youth journalists; she’s really there to tell Mia about it for a piece Mia is writing, but it turns out that “the journalists of the future were introverts” who “listened to the speakers up on stage, took notes, and occasionally asked each other how to spell a word” (204).