Morning Girl

Star Boy, Morning Girl’s brother, reflects on how, on a moonless night, the more you gaze at the sky, the more stars you see. He then lists some of the things he dislikes: when his sister wakes him up, fish with too many bones, and, most of all, “nothing.” By nothing, he means the times “when there’s nothing to hear, nothing to taste, nothing to touch, especially when there’s nothing to see” (8). These moments make him feel lost, as if he doesn’t know where he is.

He remembers the first night he woke up and realized everyone was invisible. He felt as though he had become nothing and didn’t know how to get back. That morning, his mother asked why he was up so early, like his sister. Star Boy doesn’t like being like his sister, so he claimed he didn’t need sleep anymore. His mother joked that he might be like a bat, awake all night and asleep during the day. Star Boy liked the idea and decided to go back to sleep. Morning Girl joked that he would hang upside down like a bat, and she would poke him with a stick. Their mother asked him what he liked about the night. He explained: “I like the stars. I like to look down at them” (9). To this, Morning Girl replied that you don’t look down at stars. Their father explained that you do if you’re a bat. He then gave his son the name Star Boy. Star Boy embraced the name, and their father joked about being the father of a morning flower and a bat while only he appreciated the value of rest. Their mother then asked Star Boy why he liked the dark, and he replied that it is vast, with many things to see if you look closely.

Morning Girl reflects on how her brother always ruined things for her growing up: “He messed up the niceness for me. Just being himself, he was too loud: making jokes when he should be serious, talking when he should listen, running when he should sit” (15). She often imagines how peaceful life would be without him, just her, Father, and Mother, living calmly. Yet, Star Boy is a trouble she is now used to. She recalls when her mother told her she was expecting a baby sister. They were sitting together, spinning cotton, when her mother told her that soon she would have a baby sister to play with. She then asked Morning Girl what they should name the baby. Morning Girl was shocked, and when she asked if Star Boy knew, her mother said she would tell him that night. Later that day, Morning Girl overheard her mother and Star Boy talking outside. He asked how she knew it would be a girl, and when she admitted she was not certain, he became upset: “If it’s another sister I’ll leave and go someplace else. […] I’ll find a house that has no sisters at all” (17).

A month later, Morning Girl comes back home to find her mother absent, and her father explains that she went to visit Grandmother. She can tell that he’s worried. Morning Girl asks him to think of names for the baby, but he replies that people choose their own names, or the names choose them. The day passes slowly without Mother, and Morning Girl misses her. The next day, Father tells her and Star Boy that their mother will return tomorrow but without the baby sister. He seems sad, and Morning Girl notices that Star Boy looks scared. He asks if their mother is ill, but Father reassures him that she’s not sick, only disappointed because the baby didn’t come. Morning Girl realizes that she, too, is disappointed. When their mother finally returns, she hugs Morning Girl tightly, and Star Boy rushes in to hug her as well. Watching them, Morning Girl realizes it feels right.