Upon arrival they were given tiny, lockable treasure boxes that were small enough to hold in one hand. Within a few weeks all the girls managed to amass a small collection of similar possessions: carelessly half-stitched embroideries, buttons they'd rather forget about, the unused thimble, dead blooms and paper clippings for shows never attended. It was usually mid-year when one of them, possessed with a desire for simplicity, and mild alarm at the amassing objects that anchored her to the dark dormitory, would upend her wooden heart-box and madly cast the pieces, fistful at a time, out into the spring-like night.
