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The World Is Dark, And Light Is Precious. Come Closer, Dear Reader. You Must Trust Me. I Am Telling You A Story.

But Let's Not Speak Of What Might Have Been. Let Us Speak Instead Of What Is. You Are Whole.

The Tiger Rising Is, Again, About A Motherless Child. His Name Is Rob Horton. He Is Dealing With The Death Of His Mother, When He And His Father Move To A New Town. And Two Things Happen The Same Day That Rob Gets Sent Home. One Is He Meets A Girl Named Sistine Bailey, Who Is What My Mother Would Call "a Piece Of Work," And He Finds A Real Tiger In A Cage In The Woods Behind The Motel Where He Lives With His Dad. And That's The Story: What Happens With The Sistine Tiger, The Real Tiger And Rob's Grief.

[our First Dinner With Alison Mcghee] Was At Figlio's [in Minneapolis]. I Know Exactly What I Had, Because It Was So Good: Their Three-cheese Ravioli. But I Can't Remember What I Said To Alison That Night That Made Her Laugh So Hard. But She Got Me Right Away And I Got Her Right Away.

There Are Those Hearts, Reader, That Never Mend Again Once They Are Broken. Or If They Do Mend, They Heal Themselves In A Crooked And Lopsided Way, As If Sewn Together By A Careless Craftsman. Such Was The Fate Of Chiaroscuro. His Heart Was Broken. Picking Up The Spoon And Placing It On His Head, Speaking Of Revenge, These Things Helped Him To Put His Heart Together Again. But It Was, Alas, Put Together Wrong.