Blood on the Asphalt

By Galen Hardesty.

While walking home from the library in Highland, Texas, young Daria Morgendorffer finds an orphaned baby opossum near her mother and siblings, who were very recently run over by a car. She adopts the opossum, names him Opie, and cares for him until his presence is discovered and it becomes clear he cannot stay at home with her.

The story is well told and quite moving, offering a different view of Daria than one is accustomed to reading about. She is here a child who cares about other lives, and though she views things in a detached and intellectual way her strong nurturing side is brought to the fore in an excellent manner.