"Can I sit with you?"

This week's reading includes one of my favorite chapters in The Monster in the Hollows, and this is my favorite part of that chapter.


One day as she sat sipping her soup and thinking with pleasure of Janner’s wild ride away from the Fork Factory, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She snapped out of the daydream with some difficulty and turned to see a little boy. He was so short he only came up to her shoulder while she sat. His face, like all the other faces, was dirty, and his teeth had begun to blacken. His fingernails were crusted with dirt, and his shirt was several sizes too big and hung from him like a rag on a clothesline.But his eyes! They were looking at her. He wasn’t a tool but a boy.“Can I sit with you?” he asked, and his voice was as small and sweet as a piece of candy....He looked up at her and smiled, and flakes of ash broke from his cheeks and fell to the floor. He put his head on her shoulder for a moment, and Sara felt in her heart a joy so heavy it hurt.—From chapter 23, "The Light He Left Behind."
What did you love best from this week's reading? Share it in the comments!I can't tell you all how much I am loving our conversations in the forum this week. We have a sweet community growing up there. We're talking about homesickness, pronunciations, growing up, decision-making, favorite characters—but in the midst of all that, we've been making friends. Please stop by! We'd love to become friends with you, too. :-)