After a tragic accident in the mountains the week before the Fourth of July, Lora Starkham is recovering in a hospital in Salt Lake City, 120 miles from her husband and children. Her face severly burned, the story begins with Lora enjoying the peace of manageable pain after her latest skin graft. However, her small world contained within the hospital walls gets shook up when she meets another patient, Pril. In this short story, author Linda Sillitoe introduces an unlikely relationship that occurs between a wife and mother, and a troubled teenage girl.

Sillitoe has a talent for writing and this story was both intriguing and open for interpretation by the reader. Pril enters the story when she blatantly asks Lora if she can have a face mask like the one Lora is wearing. Lora thinks this is strange, but fulfills the request. Pril later invites Lora to visit her room, which she has named "Windows on the Sea." Lora is surprised since Pril has declared her room off-limits to the entire hospital staff and patients. The story goes on to describe strange, yet magical experiences that take place between Lora and Pril.

It seems this story is one about losing oneself in another individual's sorrow and pain in order to get past your own. The story begins by telling Linda's story, but by the end, it has turned into the story of Pril and her struggle to find inner-peace and health. Lora is not a victim, but a survivor reaching out to survive others.

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Jenna Lyn Holm
December 14, 2005