Willodeen

“The little creature appears late one afternoon on an old carousel in the village of Perchance.

She is propped, dazed and damp as a newborn, on the saddle of a wooden unicorn.

She blinks, then blinks some more.

She makes a noise, a sort of squeaky growl.

Her breath comes and goes in tiny gasps and sighs. Her furry paws move when she tells them to. Her head turns this way and that.

She seems to be in fine condition.

But where is she? And more importantly, why is she?

She pats the neck of her lifeless steed. Perhaps she should wait here. Yes. That might be the best thing to do, under the circumstances. She does not know herself well yet. But she seems to be a patient sort. And patience, she suspects, might serve her well, might even save her life.”

This is an excerpt from the first segment of the story from the screecher's perspective. Applegate’s writing style here is simplistic and curious, showing a new creature discovering that she’s alive and trying to figure out what to do next. Details like the screecher realizing that her paws move when she tells them to represent the newness of existence. The creature is learning as she moves, and everything is a learning moment. The questions she asks herself (what and why) symbolize that even animals might grapple with their identities. The screecher shows some level of understanding by realizing she doesn’t know herself well yet, and her instincts tell her to be patient, something she listens to. This section shows Applegate’s take on how animals might perceive the world as well as some of the similarities all living creatures share when in new situations.

“‘Ain’t her fault,’ Pa said, coughing and sniffling. ‘They rattle easy, poor creatures. And folks is always bothering them.’

‘But why?’ I asked as I wiped stinging tears from my eyes.

‘Claim they eat livestock. Kill pets, wild game. Not a whit of truth to it. I seen ’em eat dilly bugs and the like. Mostly they live on peacock snails, grubs, worms.’”

Before the fire that kills her family, Willodeen and her pa watch a mother screecher with her young. The mother is skittish and releases the screecher stink to ward away the humans she perceives as a threat and protect her young. The beliefs the villagers hold about screechers show how people believe what they want to believe, regardless of whether there’s evidence to support those beliefs.