Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
"I hate fire" (82.1), Billie Jo declares—"Hate it." For reasons that should appear super obvious, fire is significantly tied to the trauma Billie Jo struggles with from the accident. So as fire so often does, in this book is represents terrible destruction. Just as all new life reminds her of the loss of her mom and baby brother, occurrences of fire always bring about residual feelings of fear and anger.
When a fire goes down in the school, the damage is minor and it becomes a joke among a lot of students, but Billie Jo can barely bring herself to come back to school when it's over (82.1). As if that isn't enough, there's a fire at the railroad shortly after, and she can't get away from conversation about it at school—and the way people shy away from the topic of fires when she's around only makes things worse. With both a baby being delivered and a fire happening at her school, fire is another example of how the natural world stings Billie Jo's wounds of loss.