"Nine," Aryn Kyle

Tess lies sometimes. At school, she says that she has speech therapy on Tuesdays after social studies. She is careful to lisp when she says it­—thpeech therapy after thocial thtudies. Her teacher says that Tess is precocious, that she tells good stories. “What a good story!” Miss Morris says when Tess tells her that she is a hemophiliac and has to be extra careful about things like blisters and paper cuts. Her illness is genetic, Tess says. Her mother is also a hemophiliac.

The Atlantic, 2008.