ABSTRACT
A little more background: Claudia was thirteen years older than I; she'd left for college immediately after graduating as valedictorian of her high school class. She was the oldest child, and she set a high academic standard for the rest of us to equal. I've never regretted having that standard. She'd done five years or so of college, never graduating, changing her major from medicine to literature to whatever-until she finally gave up and moved to Chicago, where she started writing poetry and doing volunteer work at small theaters. At one of those small theaters, I believe, is where she met Stephanie.
