Ways to Make Sunshine

On move in day, Ryan catalogs all the ways in which “this new house is not new at all” (26). She misses the stairs in their old house, and the bigger kitchen which could fit all of them inside it. Most of all, Ryan is upset to see that the kitchen is too small to fit her sous-chef table, which she often uses when helping her mother cook.

Ryan explains that she wants to become a cook one day. She is not afraid to think outside the box with her creations and “concoctions” (26). As Ryan got older, her mother realized that she had a talent for cooking and bought her the small sous-chef table so that they could cook alongside one another. Ryan explains that Ray does not have an interest in cooking, but that he enjoys eating Ryan’s creations, such as her lemon brownies. Ryan looks around the house for a chair she can use to reach the kitchen counters and her father reminds her to keep unpacking.

As she opens the kitchen closet to grab the broom, she finds a small step stool folded in the back of the closet. When she unfolds it, Ryan sees that it is the perfect height to help her reach the counter.