It was melting more quickly now. The delicate features that he had carved into the ice were blurring and becoming indistinct. It no longer really looked like Kim Boggs, though it did still look like a teenaged girl. Edward stood so still that he might have been a statue himself. He canted his head slightly and watched the ice sculpture melt. As the ( Read more... )

The day had come and gone almost unnoticed by Edward. It would likely have passed into the gentle blur of unremarkable days had it not been for the unexpected sound of human voices nearby. Quite startlingly nearby, in fact. He had been so preoccupied with shaping a bush into the form of a juggling bear that he had not noticed the sudden start of ( Read more... )

Edward cannot conceive of the world ending. He has seen things crumble around him, and he has seen people die, but he himself has never changed except maybe for a few more scars on his face. He is so withdrawn into the world of his own creative imagining that he would probably not even notice if the world ended around him.

Edward's days blur one into the next. He rises from his bed, tidies the house, goes out to tend to the garden, and then spends the rest of his day sculpting, sometimes in wood, sometimes in ice. Recently, a storm brought down another of the great cross-beams from the attic ceiling, so Edward has a great deal of wood to work with. Towards evening, ( Read more... )

From his castle, high atop the hill that overlooked the suburb where the Boggs family lived, Edward observed the holidays celebrated by the families who lived down below. He wasn't sure of the names of all of them, nor was he certain that he'd even identified all of the major holidays. Judging by the number of people that he saw drive to the liquor ( Read more... )

Edward thought that it would be perfect, simply perfect, just to be able to walk down a street without having people stare at him like he was some sort of freak, and hold hands with a pretty girl.

Ever since Edward could remember, his role model had been the Well-Mannered Gentleman. He had learned about the Well-Mannered Gentleman from the book on Etiquette that his Inventor had read to him.

"The well-mannered gentleman eats soup with the side of the spoon, without noise ( Read more... )

For most of his life, Edward had not understood the difference between good and evil. He certainly knew the distinction between right and wrong. The Inventor had read him a book of etiquette rules that explained the difference between right and wrong. For example, Edward knew that it was right to say "please" and "thank you." It was wrong to accept ( Read more... )

Edward remembered the first time that he saw a movie. It was at the Boggs' house, on their TV. Edward had never seen a TV before. The Inventor didn't have one and had never even mentioned them to Edward. When Edward saw the TV in the Boggs' den, he thought that it was a box with very tiny people inside of it. He puzzled over the TV for a long, long ( Read more... )

Edward doesn't really understand what government is. What does it mean, to govern? Bill Boggs explained it to him one afternoon, though his explanation left Edward even more confused about government. Bill was reading his newspaper out on the back patio while Edward was tending to the rosebushes. "Damned Reds!" he suddenly said. "Thank God we live ( Read more... )