First published 2021
Milo sits beside his older sister on a long subway journey. The faces around him spark his imagination. He sketches and invents lives for each passenger. The bearded man working his crossword puzzle becomes a lonely apartment dweller surrounded by cats, playing cards by himself. The woman in white wedding dress, clutching a small dog in her purse, transforms into a bride walking down a cathedral aisle. The well-dressed boy wearing bright sneakers lives in Milo's drawings as a young lord returning to his castle, complete with drawbridge and personal butler. But when Milo's train reaches his stop, the boy in the suit steps off too. They walk the same sidewalk. They head toward the same destination. Milo discovers that his elaborate fantasies about strangers reveal nothing true about their actual lives. His assumptions crumble when reality intervenes.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Subway
Period: 21st-century
39 pages · Library Binding · Bound to Stay Bound Books