Short Story Ashes By Beth Pfeffer

“All I can give you is dreams… But one good dream is worth a thousand flashlight batteries.” The short story Ashes by Beth Pfeffer is about a girl named Ashleigh who is a normal girl but Ashleigh’s parents are divorced and she is given the decision to pick which parent is better. Her mom has $200 in a pot at her apartment and her dad needs $200 to pay someone he owes money to. If he got the money from Ashleigh’s mom he would be able to get out of the bad situation of not having a lot of money. Ashleigh stole the money for her dad because she has more fun with her dad, she likes her dad more, and her dad needs it more. Ashleigh should take the money for her dad because she has more fun with her dad. “But then Dad gave me roses or sang a song he’d written for me”(Pfeffer 1). She is having fun with her dad when he’s giving her roses and singing her songs. Another example of Ashleigh having fun with her dad is, “I sat waiting for Dad, who I knew would show up eventually. When he got in, he was

“ Can I help?” I asked” (Pfeffer 3). Ashleigh wants to help her dad with his situation. Another example of Ashleigh’s dad needs it more is, “I just thought maybe you could borrow the money. Just for a day or two, until I straighten out all my finances. Your mother would never know the difference. Unless there’s an earthquake or the Martians invade. I think we can gamble neither of those will happen before Friday” (Pfeffer 4). Ashleigh and her dad are talking about that he needs the money more and he’ll pay her mom back. The final example is, “You let me have the money tonight, I’ll straighten out my little difficulty, and Thursday night, when your mom is out, I’ll give you back what I owe you. No earthquakes, no Martians no problem” (Pfeffer 4). Ashleigh’s dad is saying he’ll payback Ashleigh before her mom notices so that no one will get in trouble and Ashleigh’s mom won’t need it before thursday