NOS4A2

Vic rides into the woods. A photo of her father as a young boy is lost and she wants to find it. She lost the photo after taking it to school for an art project. Previously, her watercolor, Covered Bridge, was in the school show. Next, she wanted to paint her father’s photo for him. She had painted the photo so her father could always see his mother. However, she lost the photo, even though she brought the painting home. As she crosses the Shorter Way Bridge, she tells herself that she lost the photo after handing it to Willa, her friend, before catching the bus, but it seems as if she is trying to convince herself.

She exits the bridge onto the second floor of the Cooperative School. She covers the entrance to the bridge before going into the school. At 13 years old, she worries that she has “delusions,” not dreams. She has faith in the bridge to gird her reality: “The bridge had brought her here, and the bridge was never wrong” (117). She finds the photo on top of her locker shelf, then sees the janitor, Mr. Eugley. He says it looks like the bridge behind her.