The author starts the story with these sentences:

Trouble was a-brewing. I'd been feeling it for days, an

uneasy, restless feeling, like fire shut up in my bones. I

couldn't put a name to what ailed me, except that Tom

Lynn, my dearest friend, who'd come over to eat at our

house whenever I cooked and sit in the porch swing

with me these past three years, ever since I was ten, had

disappeared. Nobody knew what had happened to him,

though they'd searched and searched.

How is this part of the story important to the whole?

When writing about how one part fits with the whole story,

remember to:

• name the story element(s) highlighted in this

part of the story

• use literary language to explain how this part or

story element is important to the whole story

• discuss how this part begins to develop an idea or

theme that will be important in the story.