Chapter One MY FIRST MEMORY IS OF THE COLD I WAS strapped into my car seat but whatever car I’d arrived in had long since taken off I don’t remember the car or who was in it just the car seat rocking back and forth on the stoop The sky was dark the road empty and the concrete front stoop was cracked and icy I was barely a year old and alone in the world Walt doesn’t know that I can remember that far back But I do remember I remember the scratchy pink blanket and how it hadn’t kept me warm even before I kicked it off and out of reach And I remem ber Walt only I didn’t know his name yet walking up the sidewalk and standing in front of me his breath making puffy white clouds in the air
