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Meet math-loving fourth grader, Danny Bowman Marsh, and join us for an unforgettable story to remind us all that we do not choose our parents.
Note: This episode contains depictions of parental neglect.
On this episode, author Amy Parker joins us to discuss her short story collection,
Beasts & Children, published by Mariner Books, and we take a journey into her short story, "The Balcony."
"Maybe if he acted like he didn't notice her, she'd go away. Danny erased a problem in long division, concentrating on the pink rubber shavings, the pencil smear. He blew them away, erased again. He erased so hard, he bore a hole in the paper. He liked long division, liked imagining the numbers entering a little house, fitting in neatly, with the remainders confined to the roof. The door squeaked, and his mother came in, slipping a little in her high heels. She weaved between the desks. Her perfume was like a blow from a fist."