Eponine was able to read. This was an important fact about her, that she was happy to tell everyone all about. It was rare for a girl of her birth to be able to read, but she could. And she could even write. Take that, everyone who ever called her stupid.

She was doing it now, the reading thing. She'd found a book that, while confusing in all of the modern terms and things (what was a silver Audi? And where was a Washington and why did it have forks?) was sucking her into the story. She was so engrossed that she hardly noticed someone coming over to take a look at what she was reading.

Until they got too close and the young woman looked up at him with a frown. "Do you know what baseball is?"