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Author: Judy Blume
Plot synopsis: Davey has never felt so alone in her life.
Her father is dead- shot in a hold up- and the rest of the family has moved to New Mexico to try to recover.
But when will she be ready to leave the past behind and move toward the future?
Will she ever stop hurting?
" Blume deals affectingly with grief and adjustment to death in this newest novel.....
Davey's feelings are credibly and sensitively rendered."
After her fathers death Davey felt so lonely.
Her family were in Baltimore when her uncle read it in the newspaper. But they had no way they could get back in time for the funeral.
"Adam Wexler, 24, shot and killed".
Davey often looked at the articles which told the murderer of her father but she has to face the facts: he was shot in the chest four times by an unknown assailant.
From that on the whole family were afraid to be shot too and that's the reason why they kept planning a trip to New Mexico where her aunt Bitsy and her uncle Walter live.
Gwen, Davey's mother, tried to overcome by talking with Bitsy.
Davey always has a knife under her pillow like her mum who has a gun under her bed because they are afraid.
Everything reminds Davey of that night and she is always in the mood to do nothing. She doesn't want to go to school, she doesn't eat and that's why she woke up once in the nurse room at school. Her mother took her to the doctor who said that she is hyperventilating and suggested her to tell herself to relax.
He also recommended a change of scenery and so they decided to visit her aunt. Los Alamos looked ordinary but such as at home the old photos hanging on the wall in the huge living room reminds her of her father. They talked about everything but no one ever mentioned her father. Davey tried to forget by borrowing her aunt's bike. She drove around till she came to a beautiful canyon where she decided to climb down into the bottom of the canyon.
Suddenly distracted by a lizard she wanted to talk to her father, telling him how safe she felt to be near him. She let her feelings out by crying " please don't be dead".
Her echo was answered by a boy about 19 or 20, who was wearing hiking boots, no T-shirt and wool socks sticking out over the tops. He introduced himself as Wolf and she said that he should call her Tiger. From that moment on she was always thinking about Wolf.
Her mother had already plenty experiences in dealing with death because her father died when she was in high school and her brother when she was 19.
When they wanted to leave to get home a friend called them and said that their store has been attacked by vandals, looking like a mess. Not knowing they will ever come home Davey often went on the canyon because it was a good place for her thoughts and for meeting Wolf, who did not ask her any questions. But once he said that they have a lot in common because his father is dying. Davey cannot talk about her fathers death and that's why she tells her friends that her father died of an heart attack.
After a time she joined the candy strippers with her fried Jane in Los Alamos Medical Center, where she has to stop at each room to fill the patients' pitchers with fresh water and ice.
In one room there was a thin old man called Willie Ortiz, who had cancer and was ready to die. She has to think about her father and went to the canyon but Wolf doesn't show.
She can't seem to get rid of the empty feeling that started and won't get away. Mr. Ortiz and Davey become friends, he still enjoys life even though he is so close to death.
But once when he wants her to meet his son she can't believe that it is Wolf, who refuses to meet her eyes, while explaining he wants to spend his time with his father than in the canyon.
Christmas was quiet and sad, although each of them pretend to be happy, to be excited by their gifts. Another pain for her was when Wolf said goodbye to her, explaining to see her again "Cuando los lagartijos corren"- when the lizards run.
She wants to sign up. She was also sick of her uncle and aunt, but as long as she lives in their house she has to live by their rules.
Mr. Ortiz died and ordered to give Davey his dancing bear and an envelope.
Her life was full of sadness and thinking about dying scared her because it is so permanent.
The letters she wrote to Wolf came all back. Once she got a present from Wolf, a flat polished stone as big as a quarter. Everyday she rode to the canyon but there was no sign of Wolf. To overcome her problem she went to a psychologist where she told the truth about her fathers dying which was not so easy than to make up a story.
She also enjoyed the moments to talk and to be alone with her mother who suffered all days, deciding to sell their house and their store because of the too many memories there.
They want to make a life on their own after this accident that changed their life.
On the last day Davey drove to the canyon for the last time, the place where she felt closest to her father.
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