Electric Jug
- Lily is contemplating her teacher's discussion questions on Hamlet when she is stricken with the panicked thought that she may have left the electric teapot on back at home.
- She decides to skip her next class to run home and make sure it's off. On the way, she arranges in her mind an assortment of fatalistic thoughts involving the house burning down.
- Back at her house, Lily finds that the jug is turned off and immediately feels pretty stupid, not to mention old—girls her age shouldn't have to worry about leaving appliances on at home.
- As she thinks about this, she notices a gray, lumpy shape lying in the corner of the kitchen. She thinks it might be Seely, Lonnie's hamster who disappeared when they were children. Legend has it that he still roams the house with his hamster wife and kids.
- When she gets closer, Lily sees that it's actually a discarded dishtowel. As she heads back to school, Lily decides she has to do something crazy to keep herself from becoming prematurely middle aged.
- She decides that it's time to join her girlfriends at school and fall in love with someone. She chooses Daniel, the dreamy, popular eleventh grader who invaded her sleep the night before.