her last night in seattle it always rains. usually she's safely up in her old room, feet on the heater vent, listening to it slap the trees. but this time, erica found herself in a drafty vinyl tent on her mother's property, under a dark, bruised sky, and the rain sounded like little spasms of polite applause. thank you for coming back, it said. your performance was flawed though, even complete strangers were asking you why you looked so sad. but only jayc understands. the family game exhausts her. her mother is crazy, the real thing. and it always takes days to recover from getting drenched in her strange downpours. as perdictible as, say, the rain in seattle. erica is afraid that her warm emotional shelter is now as flimsy as that tent.