The Shape of Thunder

Cora runs into the woods, where she feels like she can hear Mabel’s voice clearly. Quinn catches up with her. Angrily, Cora tells her that she doesn’t want her to be there, saying, “[Y]our brother KILLED my sister, Quinn. Don’t you get it?” (310). Cora tries to jump across the rushing creek but slips into the water. Quinn screams and Cora pictures Mabel’s face.

Cora hits her head on a rock as she falls, and she is unconscious in the water. Quinn struggles to pull Cora out of the rushing water because Cora is dead weight. With a considerable struggle, Quinn manages to pull her to the shore. She is relieved to find that Cora is breathing.

Cora, disorientated, wakes up in hospital. Her father is there and Cora explains to him what she was trying to do in the woods. She was trying to time travel back to change the events that resulted in Mabel’s death. Cora’s father tells her that Mabel is gone, and Cora registers the finality of this more than she has previously.

Cora’s father makes the analogy that Cora’s grief for her sister will be like an evolving scientific theory, and he says, “[M]aybe you can think about how you’re handling missing Mabel—how you’re coping with your grief—as an imperfect and evolving theory.