she was not the girl next door but the girl from round the corner it was at the tail end of grade four when she came to school one morning and all eyes were upon her as she took her seat her name was amanda with pretty eyes of green and hair of blonde strawberry blonde springtime and dandelions and summer round the corner was at the tail end of age nine with a million dreams before her she lived with her mother in an old decrepit house if there was trouble she kept it to herself all summer long the strawberry blonde and by her face there was no way to tell it seemed like all was well in her world but the neighbors said her mother had lost her will to gin and sleeping pills it was no life for a little girl still i see her face framed in blue sky at the top of a slide coming down and when the sirens wailed all the neighbors stood outside as amanda just stared at the ground time flies and years are piled i d forgotten all about her when i saw her down the aisle of a streetcar with her daughter then i heard amanda say as she got up c mon samantha girl this is our stop and they were gone two strawberry blondes