A Heart in a Body in the World

Annabelle runs through many towns in Illinois. She enjoys running through towns because they’re more interesting to look at than farmland. Annabelle “imagines life in each of them. She looks in store windows. She chooses a house that could be hers” (254). Annabelle is enjoying her run until she passes a music venue that causes her to flash back to the night of the concert with The Taker.

The night of the concert, The Taker picks Annabelle up and they go to the concert venue. Inside it is very crowded, and Annabelle worries about finding The Taker’s friends from work, but The Taker insists it’s okay. The Taker stands behind Annabelle and they dance together. Annabelle has fun; “[t]he music and the atmosphere make her feel a freedom she doesn’t normally feel” (258). After the concert, Annabelle and The Taker go outside. The Taker kisses Annabelle’s cheek and then runs into a nearby market to buy two water bottles. The Taker drives Annabelle home but stops his car a block away from Annabelle’s house and kisses her. Annabelle enjoys the moment, thinking, “who doesn’t want to kiss after a concert? After the loud music and the heat and the surge of being alive?” (259).