A Reminiscence

In sixth grade, my favorite author was Lois Duncan.  The Witches of Worm was my first introduction to the genre of supernatural fiction, and I was fascinated.  I read as many of her books as I could, A Gift of Magic, Killing Mr. Griffin, and I Know What You Did Last Summer just to name a few, and when my reading teacher, Mrs. O'Reilly, took us to the library, I immediately headed for the D shelf, hoping to find one that I hadn't already read.  One day, though, I was being hurried through the browsing process, and I snatched a title that I hadn't seen before, A Summer to Die.  I checked it out and returned to the classroom, where we spent the period in silent reading.  After the first chapter, I was puzzled.  So far, there had been no hint of any supernatural tendencies in the characters, and the writing style was not at all familiar.  I checked the cover and sure enough, the author was NOT Lois Duncan; it was Lois Lowry.  Annoyed, I flipped back to Chapter 2 and continued reading.  After all, you're supposed to finish what you start, right?

This book was about a girl whose sister had frequent nose bleeds.  Having my own sister who got frequent nose bleeds, I thought maybe I could relate.  But this girl's nose bleeds often sent her to the hospital because they wouldn't stop.  I don't recall the full thread of the story, but I do know that it didn't turn out well.  One of the trips to the hospital ended with the girl's death, as the nose bleeds had been a sypmtom of some hidden and insidious disease. 

I spent the better part of a year fearful of Sandie's next nose bleed.  Though hers were never so severe as to send her to the hospital, I couldn't help but think that maybe they were getting worse or more frequent or less controllable or that she really should get checked for hidden and insidious diseases.