A Heart in a Body in the World

The next morning is Annabelle’s 18th birthday. Grandpa surprises Annabelle with bacon, scrambled eggs, and cinnamon rolls. Annabelle has mixed feelings about her birthday because she knows “[i]t will bring on everyone’s forced cheer. They will be trying for her, which means she’ll have to try for them, too” (86). When Annabelle asks where Grandpa got the cinnamon rolls, he says he got them from the woman camper he met for cocktails the night before, and Annabelle realizes she has no idea how late he was out.

Annabelle is careful to wear a moisture-wicking shirt and to use Aquaphor and Vaseline to protect her body from soreness and chafing before she begins her run that morning. On the trail, Annabelle is initially happy to see that it is a beautiful day and that the ground is flat, but she soon notices that the trail passes through uneven lands and has the remains of an old railroad track.

Annabelle remembers her birthday one year before. At school, her friends surprised her with a birthday cake at lunch. After lunch, Kat gave Annabelle a Moleskine notebook as a birthday gift.

Along the trail, Annabelle comes across an abandoned railway trestle.