Cassandra in “Unfinished Business”

[as she recites her poem for school] Once, I was lost, and scared, and cold. You have no family, I was told, except a brother to keep me warm in any winter and any storm. He was as lost and scared as I, but brave enough not to cry. We'll make it through, is what he said, even though Ma and Pa are dead. But in my heart, I could not see how life without them could ever be. They lay in cold silence beneath the sod. To save us would be a miracle from God. The miracle came like a glorious dawn, just when it seemed all hope was gone. We give thanks to God in his heaven above for our new family's unbounded love.