--== Sapphire's Place ==--
http://www.sapphireplace.com

8 Dragons, Book Three
by Rebekkah deMere 


1: A Matter of Minor Importance


     "No. Not in the car."

     "But, Rickie!"

     "I told you before, not in a car."

     "What if I borrow Spark's van?"

     "Then you can have a fine time moving furniture or 
something. But I am not doing it in a car."

     "Rickie, please? There's nowhere else to go."

     "I said, no."



     "That boy's gonna turn blue, Rickie. What are you gonna 
do if they shrivel up and fall off?"

     "He can wait. God, Gina, you'd think a guy who spends 
all his time writing poetry could come up with something 
more romantic than the back seat of a car."

     "Honey, he's been following you around for three years 
now. You don't give it up soon, he's gonna look somewhere 
else."

     "Slut."

     "Yeah. I think I'm gonna make it a career."

     "At least Buck has a bed and a mom who's out most 
nights. You know where Don wanted to do it for our first 
time?"

     "Was that when he tried to get you to hide under the 
deck?"

     "That wasn't the worst. He tried to get me to agree to 
lock ourselves in the restroom at the park!
Can you imagine that?"

     "Tell him to rent a room."

     "He spent all his money on that damned car. Last 
Saturday, I had to pay for the movie. And the greasy burgers 
after."

     "So? You got money."

     "That's not the point."

     "And what is the point?"

     "I don't know, Gina. I just want it to be romantic, you 
know? Not flowers or anything. Well, maybe flowers."

     "Yeah, flowers would be nice."



     "So what are you girls doing after school?"

     "Buck said something about dinner and a dance," Gina 
gloated.

     "Grrr!"

     "Are you and Don going out again?" Mom asked.

     "Maybe. I think he wants me to take him to a movie 
again."

     "Oh dear. Remember, Rickie, it was you who made him 
give up his weekend job."

     "I know. It's just not fair! When he had money, he 
didn't have time to see me. Now that he has the time, he 
doesn't have any money."

     "I don't think you're being fair to Don, honey."

     "I know."



     "Hey, Tom, you in there somewhere?"

     Tom and Dad had just come in from shoveling the drive. 
Dad was dressed as he always was; the cold didn't seem to 
bother him at all. But Tom had on so many clothes he looked 
like a wool and nylon beach ball.

     "Brrr! It's cold out there," he said. "We got your car 
cleaned off, Mom. But you might wanna let it warm up before 
you leave."

     "Thanks, Tom. Did your father help you this time?
Or did he build another snowman?"

     "Regina, I'm hurt. Wounded."

     Mom grabbed the sprayer from the sink and pointed it at 
Dad.

     "Take your hands from behind your back. Slowly, 
Thomas."

     Dad grinned, but he did as he was told. There was a 
huge snowball in his hand.

     "Now place it slowly in the sink."

     "Gee, Regina. You're no fun."

     While Dad was pouring himself a mug of hot chocolate, 
Tom pulled a big snowball from his pocket.
He handed it to Mom with a finger over his lips. From four 
feet away, Mom couldn't miss. The snowball made a wet 
sploosh when it hit Dad on the back of the neck.
Everyone laughed when Dad did a little dance to get the ice 
out of his shirt.

     "Oh, my ice queen, I'll warm your heart," Dad said, 
then grabbed Mom in a big hug. When she began to relax, he 
dropped a chunk of snow down her sweater.
Everybody but Dad ran from the kitchen as Mom grabbed the 
sink sprayer. I think Dad was going to try to stop her, but 
he had to change his clothes before breakfast.



     The road to town was icy, and there was more than one 
car in the ditch beside it. The rest of the cars were moving 
slowly, which frustrated Mom. When the car in front of her 
stopped at the bottom of a hill, Mom let loose a string of 
dark Italian.

     "Calm down, Mom. We've got plenty of time."

     "Sorry, Gina. It's just that stronzo is going to get 
stuck and block the road.

     He was already stuck. His back wheel was spinning on 
the ice, and his car was sliding sideways. But the other 
lane was clear, so Mom was able to get around him. I looked 
out the back window as we were going up the hill and watched 
the idiot slip into a ditch.

     "Good," Mom hissed. "That'll keep him off the road for 
a while."

     It was not a lot of fun riding with Mom on snowy 
mornings.



     "I'm having a little party next Saturday if you guys 
want to come," Derek said as we walked to math.
Derek's mom had bought a house in town, so he didn't have to 
live in the dorm anymore.

     "Great," Sparks said. "I'll have to check with Terri, 
but I'll bet she'll wanna go."

     "I saw her last night," Derek said. "She said she'd ask 
you."

     "I don't wanna know," Sparks laughed.

     We weren't sure what Uncle Amos was teaching Terri, but 
we bet the police would like to know. The less we knew, the 
better.

     "I know Don'll want to go," I whined. "Cheap date."

     "You're the one who made him quit his job," Derek said.

     "I know!"



     Our first period math class was a blast, though I 
wasn't sure how Mr. Taliafero was going to make Riemannian 
geometry last all semester. But I liked working with a 
geometry that had no parallel lines. It seemed to fit my 
life.

     Sparks was in his glory in that class, though he swore 
that calculus was more useful for his hobby. But as soon as 
he saw how it applied to relativity, he was hooked.



     "You guys coming to our party?" Dana asked over lunch.

     "Think so. Is it going to be a big one?

     "Nah, just kids from school and some neighbors.
You know. But J and J are cooking."

     "Then heck with Don. I'll be there for sure."

     Janice and Jim had gotten a job in the school's kitchen 
and had discovered they liked to cook. And they were really 
good, at least as good as Buck.
Though they just worked with the weekday dinners for the 
dorms, their cooking had changed every meal at the school. 
Everybody said they were the reason that the cafeteria 
lunches now tasted so good. And all the day students now 
found a reason to visit one of the dormies for dinner.

     "So what do your parents think about you staying at 
Derek's."

     "They're pretty cool about it. His mom told them she'd 
make sure we were chaperoned all night. But ever since that 
thing with Billy, my parents think Derek can do no wrong."

     Billy was Dana's older brother. He was working on his 
car on Thanksgiving when Derek and his mom were at Dana's 
for dinner. Billy's car fell off the blocks he was using 
instead of jack stands. Derek lifted the car off him, then 
kept him calm while they drove Billy to the hospital. Dana's 
parents swore it must have been adrenaline, but everyone 
knew better.



     "So you know what you two are doing tonight?"

     "Don just said to wear something nice. I'm probably 
taking him to dinner."

     "Rickie!"

     "Yeah, I know. It's just that everyone else has it so 
good. You and Buck, Dana and Derek, Jim and Janice. You 
know. It's just that I'm so... so..."

     "Frustrated?"

     "I don't want to talk about it."



     "You look gorgeous."

     "Thanks, Don. What're we doing tonight?"

     "It's a secret."

     "You have to tell me sometime."

     "C'mon, Rickie. Don't spoil it."



     I was a lot worried when we pulled into Georgio's 
parking lot. "Don, I didn't bring enough money for this."

     "Hush, I got it covered."

     "You? Where'd you get the money?"

     "C'mon, Rickie! Give me a break!"



     I tried to look for the cheapest thing on the menu, but 
Don insisted I order whatever I liked. I compromised and 
told him that the cheapest thing on the menu was what I 
wanted. Then I started adding things. If I skipped an 
appetizer and drank just water...

     "Rickie, I said I got it covered. Order everything you 
want."

     "But, Don..."

     "Look, I was going to wait till after dinner to tell 
you. I got a job."


     "You did? Great. Where you working?"

     "Here."

     "Here? Like, at Georgio's here?"

     "Yeah, I start tomorrow."

     "Tomorrow?!"

     "Look, Rickie. I know you didn't want me working on 
weekends. But I gotta. Starting tomorrow, I'm working here 
three days a week."

     "What days?"

     "Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday."

     "So, you working through lunch?"

     "No, Rickie. It's four to closing each night."

     "But, Don!"

     "Rickie, I know. But the way things've been going, you 
didn't want to see me anyway. I know it's been a drag. I'm 
sorry."

     "That's not true!"

     "Yes it is, Rickie. And you know it."

     "But..."

     "Look, Rickie. It's not a big deal. It just means we 
won't get to see each other quite as much, but we can still 
see each other sometimes. It won't be that bad."

     "But we hardly get to see each other now!"

     "C'mon, Rickie. You know it's not been working out 
lately. So this might be good for us. At least you won't be 
mad at me all the time."

     "But I'm not..."

     "But you would be. You don't exactly have a poker face, 
you know."

     "But..."

     "I'm working here starting tomorrow, Rickie. And I'm 
not quitting this time."



     When the food arrived, it didn't have any taste at all.



2: Silver Drops the Mead



     I had to do something. I couldn't let it end with a 
dinner Don couldn't afford. If I could get my mouth to work, 
maybe I could say something.

     We ate our dinner in silence. I couldn't even look up. 
If I did, I started to cry and had to run to the ladies' 
room. This could be my last time with Don, and I was 
spending it washing smeared makeup off my face. What 
happened? What changed?

     I knew what it was. Don was tired of me playing the 
virgin. But it wasn't that I didn't want to do it with him. 
Didn't he know that? But he couldn't know.
All he could know was that I kept saying no to him. So maybe 
it was time I just pushed up my boobs and did something 
about it.



     "So where we going now?"

     "Home, I guess."

     "Home? It's still early!"

     "I know, Rickie. It's just... I don't know. I just... I 
gotta get home. Maybe we better just make it an early night, 
okay?"

     "Don, I... I..."

     "It's okay, Rickie."

     It wasn't okay at all. I had to do something. He was 
pulling into my drive. I had to do something right away. As 
soon as his car stopped, I put my arms around his neck and 
tried to pull him into a kiss. But he just pulled my arms 
from around his neck and pushed me away!

     "Don! Please?"

     "No, Rickie. Not here. I'll call you, okay?"

     "Promise?"

     "Sure. We'll get together sometime."

     I climbed out of his car and shut the door. He didn't 
even get out. He just backed out and drove away. I walked to 
the door alone, feeling the tears freezing on my cheeks.



     "You're home early. Anything wrong?"

     "Chrissie, he dumped me!"

     I ran to my room before I started bawling out loud. I 
threw myself on my bed and just let it out.

     "Rickie." Chrissie waddled into my room. She tried to 
sit on the edge of my bed, but she was way too pregnant. She 
rolled onto her back, then had to struggle to get up. 
"Rickie, what happened?"

     "He... he..." Then I was crying on Chrissie's shoulder. 
She just held me without saying anything until I got it out.

     "Oh, Chrissie! He took me to Georgio's. Then right in 
the restaurant, he... he..." I hadn't gotten it all out. 
There were a lot more tears.

     "Are you sure, Rickie? You two seem to misunderstand 
each other more than any other two people on the planet. 
What did he say?"

     "He... he said it was better if we didn't see each 
other so much. He got a job there, and he's working weekend 
nights, so we can't go out. He said it was better for... 
better..."

     "Oh, honey!" And Chrissie rocked me as well as she 
could. "It'll be all right. You'll see. It's just another 
one of your stupid fights."

     "No, he... he wouldn't even kiss me goodnight. He just 
dropped me off and drove away. He doesn't want to see me 
anymore."

     "It's all right, Rickie. I bet you two are back 
together in a week. You'll see. It will be just like the 
last couple dozen times."

     "This is different. He doesn't love me any...
Chrissie! One of them kicked!"

     "Yeah, I know. They do that a lot now. I think they 
want to get out."

     "Is it time? I mean, should..."

     "Calm down, Rickie. It's fine. There's a lot of time 
still."

     "They're moving a lot!"

     "I think they're dancing."

     "That is so cool. When is Jeff coming back?"

     "Monday, unless they ask him to stay another day."

     "You hear from him?"

     "He called before you came in. He said he thought the 
interviews went really well, but he has to meet with the 
department tomorrow."

     "You think he'll get it?"

     "There's not a lot of tenure-track jobs open, Rickie. 
There will be a lot of people applying. And they may decide 
just to make it another adjunct position."

     "So you want to move to New York?"

     "I don't know. I kinda hope he gets the job; but I 
kinda don't, too. You know?"

     "Yeah. I don't want you to go."

     "I know, honey."



     Gina was late, and Dad was sitting right by the front 
door. If she didn't hurry up, she was going to be grounded 
again. I heard Mom come in the living room and sit next to 
Dad.

     "Relax, Thomas. They're fine."

     "I know, Regina. I just worry about them. I guess it's 
what fathers do."

     This was so cool. I never knew what Mom and Dad did on 
the nights we got grounded. I guess I thought they were just 
being angry or mean or something. But they were sitting 
there being worried about us. It made me feel a little 
guilty. I thought about going downstairs and letting them 
know I was already home, but I wanted to listen a bit more.

     "How you feeling, dear?" Mom asked someone.

     "Like the cage at a fight club," Chrissie answered.

     "You should be lying down," Dad said. "You need your 
sleep."

     "I know. I just couldn't. What are you two doing up?"

     "Waiting for your sisters," Dad answered. "Three more 
minutes and they're grounded again."

     "Uh, Rickie's already here. She was home before nine."

     "Oh dear. Not again."

     Fortunately, Gina was at the front door. I was in no 
mood for them to start discussing my lack of a love life.

     "Hi, Mom, Dad."

     "You're late, Gina."

     "Sorry. We just lost track of the time. Besides, I'm 
not real late."

     "Gina, you know Buck's license is no good after 
midnight," Mom scolded. "You don't want him getting 
arrested, do you?"

     "No. I'm real sorry. It won't happen again."

     "That's what you said last time, young lady."

     "Dad, I'm sorry. Really. I'm real tired, so I'm going 
right to bed."



     "Hi, Rickie. How'd your date go?"

     "Don dumped me, Gina."

     "Again?"



     "Pay attention, Lian hua."

     "I was. This is crazy. Why do we have to learn to walk 
on a rope? I mean..." The old bastard was giving me that 
look. "Sorry, Master Li." I picked myself up and climbed 
back to the rope. There had to be a better way to spend my 
Saturday mornings.



     It was after 3:00. If Don didn't call soon, he'd be at 
his new job. I'd give him another 10 minutes, then the heck 
with him.

     Okay. I'd give him just five more minutes.



     "Hi, MJ. What you doing?"

     "Just finished practicing, Rickie."

     "Doing anything tonight?"

     "Why? You and Don have a fight again?"

     "Mary Jo!"

     "Sorry, Rickie. I'm just feeling a bit jealous.
No, I don't have anything planned. Wanna hang out?"

     "Yeah. I really need someone to talk to."

     "Sure, love. Wanna spend the night?"

     "Yeah, I'd like that. Lemme clear it with my mom."



     "Don dumped me."

     "I don't want to hear it, Rickie."

     "C'mon, Mary Jo. I gotta talk to somebody."

     "Yeah. And next week you'll be back together and I'll 
be sitting home alone again."

     "Not this time."

     "What's special about this time?"

     "He got a job. He's working Friday and Saturday nights. 
So he couldn't see me even if he wanted to."

     "You should've let him keep his last job."

     "I know. It's all my fault!"

     "C'mon, Rickie. Don't cry. It'll be all right."



     We picked a movie and then got out the ice cream.
We curled underneath a blanket on her couch and got ready 
for a night of tears. MJ had wanted to watch a comedy, but 
we compromised on a romance where one of them dies at the 
end.

     "But the next one's a comedy," MJ said. "I don't want 
to listen to you crying all night."

     The movie was okay, but the ice cream was a lot better. 
Halfway through the movie, we put it on pause and went for 
more snacks.

     "Got some chocolate cake here," MJ tempted me.

     "Chocolate icing?"

     "Yep. And buttercreme."

     "Cool."



     I liked being with MJ. She always could make me laugh, 
no matter how bad I was feeling. We ragged on Don for a 
while, then extended it to boys in general.
When I tried to say it was my fault that Don and I broke up, 
she wouldn't have it.

     "Why? Because you wanted to see him occasionally?
'Cause you wouldn't put out in a park restroom? 'Cause you 
paid his way wherever you went? C'mon, Rickie. The guy's a 
louse. A cheap louse."

     "I don't know, MJ."

     "Guys are all alike, Rickie. They take whatever they 
can get. And if they don't think they're getting enough, 
they drop you for someone else."

     "Like you know so much about guys," I teased.

     "I know enough to know I don't need one. You're better 
off without him."

     "I don't know. Maybe you're right."

     "You know I am, Rickie. You've been going out with that 
bum for three years, and half that time you've been 
miserable."



     The movie was over, and I didn't cry at all.
Instead, when the girl died at the end, MJ and I were 
laughing.

     "How come it's always the girl that dies?" MJ asked.

     "I think you're supposed to feel sorry for the guy 
because he'll pine for her for the rest of his life."

     "Yeah, or until he meets some blonde at the funeral 
parlor, if he even gets that far."

     "Maybe they should make one where it's the guy who 
dies."

     "Then it wouldn't be a sad movie."

     "Ga, MJ. You're wicked. Want to pick a comedy now?"

     "How 'bout we go to bed?"

     "Okay."



3: A City of Two



     "MJ, it's beautiful out. Look at the sun sparkle on the 
snow."

     "Mmm. Come back to bed."

     "Okay."



     So much for giving it up for Don.



     "So what do you want to do today?"

     "We gotta head for the fort soon, Rickie."

     "They won't miss us for one day. Let's do something."

     "If we're not there by lunch, you know your mom'll come 
looking for us. I _really_ don't wanna deal with that."

     "Spoilsport."

     "Come here, you."



     MJ's mom offered us a ride, but we decided to walk to 
the fort. It was too glorious a day. It was so fresh and 
clean, like it can only be on a snowy Sunday. The air was so 
crisp and clear that if I could tap it, I bet it would ring 
like crystal.

     "So what're you working on now? Huh, huh?" I was 
bouncing around MJ like a puppy.

     "Girl, you're sure in a good mood."

     "I feel wonderful!" I shouted, hoping every sleepy 
person in every house in town could hear me.
And in case they didn't, I yelled again.

     MJ hit me on the back with a snowball, then we were 
running down the street having a snowball fight.

     "No fair hitting in the head."

     "So grow taller."

     MJ helped clear some snow that had fallen under my 
sweater.

     "You know, we could go back to your house and you could 
dry me off real nice."

     "Mmm, that'd be nice. But let's see what your mom's got 
for lunch first."

     "I'd rather go back to your house."

     "Yeah, and your mom would have a cow. Calm down, 
Rickie, or your mom might not let you come over again."

     "Am I glowing?"

     "Yeah, damnit. Stop that."

     So we took a little break from walking to kiss for a 
while. It was so nice and warm.



     "Hi, Don." I suddenly didn't feel so good.

     "Hi, Rickie. MJ." He didn't look so good, either.
Good!

     "So, you have fun last night?"

     "Yeah, loads. I get to wipe the slop off people's 
tables. And if I'm really good, I get to wash dishes.
Whoopie."

     "Oh well. That's the life of a working boy." And I left 
him there while I dragged MJ into the kitchen to see if we 
could help Mom with lunch.

     Buck was frying onions, and Gina was slicing tomatoes.

     "Hi, Mom. What can we do?"

     "Girls, you're just in time. Mary Jo, would you clean 
some lettuce? And Rickie, get out the hot peppers."

     I looked over Mom's shoulder to see the minute steaks 
fry.

     "Oh boy! Cheesesteak hoagies! I love cheesesteak 
hoagies!"

     "Well, you're sure in a good mood."

     "It's a great day, Mom. It's so beautiful outside."

     "Yes, dear."



     It was great to have the whole gang together, even if 
Don was being a pain in the butt. I didn't care. He could do 
that back of the hand against the forehead thing all he 
wanted. It was his own stupid fault.

     MJ looked just wonderful. I couldn't keep my eyes off 
her all through lunch. And every time we looked at each 
other, I had to hold back my giggles.

     I felt like dancing as I cleared the dishes. I let the 
rest of the gang sit in the dining room to discuss what we 
were going to do this afternoon. I didn't care. Anything 
would be great.

     Mom was putting a huge lamb in the oven when I dropped 
off the first load of dishes.

     "Big dinner, Mom?"

     "Yes, dear. The Villanelles will be here, and your aunt 
and uncle."

     "Great! Can I ask MJ for dinner?"

     "Certainly, dear. But, Rickie, try not to rub it in 
Don's face quite so much. Okay, dear?"

     "Mom?"

     "You know what I mean, Rickie. Even if it is his own 
stupid fault."

     I hadn't laughed like that with Mom for a while.
It was almost a shame to run out for another load of dishes.



     "So let's go sledding."

     "It's too cold," Nancy whined. "Let's do something 
warm."

     "So let's go ice skating," Bryan suggested.

     "I said warm, goon."

     "It's warmer than sledding."

     They started poking each other, so those two were lost 
to the discussion.

     "We could just play pool," Don said. I looked at him. I 
couldn't decide if he was trying to be nice or not.

     "Lousy idea," Terri said. "The first time one of the 
twins gets a turn, we spend the rest of the afternoon 
watching her. Let's do something we all can do."

     "We could go down to the lake and hang out," Buck said. 
"There's supposed to be a pair of bald eagles wintering 
there, and I kinda wanted to see them."

     "They're incredible," Sparks said. "I know just where 
they are. And I've got my spotting scope in my van."

     "Cool. We can fill some thermoses with hot chocolate," 
I said. "And I think Dad's got a bunch of those pocket 
warmers we can borrow."

     "And I can bring a bunch of old blankets in case we get 
cold," Gina added.

     "Is that warm?" Nancy asked.

     "Warmer than sledding," Bryan answered.



     We needed to take at least two cars. We decided Gina 
and Buck could go in his jeepster while the rest of us piled 
in Sparks' van. Sparks and Buck discussed just where we 
would park so we could get close to the eagles, then we were 
on our way. At the last second, Don decided he was riding 
with Buck.

     Once we were on the road, Terri passed back a joint. We 
tended not to do that around Buck. He didn't care; but he 
stuck to that promise he made me when we were in middle 
school, and Gina and I were particular not to do it in front 
of him. He was real cool about it, but we thought it was 
neat that he stayed so straight.

     "So you and Don have another fight?" Terri asked.

     "It wasn't a fight. He just decided not to go out with 
me anymore."

     "I thought he'd been acting particularly stupid 
lately," Sparks said while trying to hold in the smoke at 
the same time.

     It struck us as an hilarious thing to say.



     "They're incredible," MJ whispered.

     We were wrapped together in a blanket and taking turns 
looking through Dad's biggest pair of binoculars. They were 
so big we had to brace them with a stick to hold them 
steady.

     "My turn."

     As MJ pushed the binoculars to me, she gave me a kiss 
on the cheek. Oh well, I guess the birds could wait a few 
minutes.

     "Mmmphg. If you're not gonna look, Rickie, give me back 
the binoculars."

     "Okay, okay. Sheesh!"

     The eagles were magnificent. They were sitting in a 
tree about 50 yards away, almost too close to use Sparks' 
scope. When they turned their heads, you could see their 
bright yellow beaks. I never realized before how powerful a 
bird could be. They both suddenly launched themselves at the 
same time and flew low over the water right toward us. As 
they passed overhead, one of them screamed. I was a little 
frightened.

     "Wow," Buck gasped. "That was amazing."

     Sparks started to take down his scope.

     "Let's wait a while and see if they come back," Nancy 
said.

     "I thought you were cold."

     "Yeah, but some things are worth being cold."



     When we got back to the fort, Jeff's car was in the 
drive.

     "I guess he didn't get the job," I said.

     "How do you know?"

     "He wasn't supposed to be back till tomorrow."

     "Too bad."

     "I don't know, MJ. I mean, yeah, I wish he got the job. 
But I didn't really want them to move away.
I'd miss Chrissie too much."

     "Yeah, but you could get to visit her in New York."



     Dinner was a celebration. Jeff had told the committee 
at Columbia that he had to leave early because his wife was 
pregnant and he had to be home.
Instead of just letting him go, they offered him the job. 
Starting next fall, he would be an assistant professor.

     Chrissie didn't look thrilled. I don't think she wanted 
to move to New York. Or maybe she was just tired of that 
"eating for three" joke. Whatever the reason, she just 
gripped Jeff's hand and gave him sickly smiles through 
dinner, which sort of took the fun out of it for him. But 
everyone else was celebrating.

     Dad and Aunt Keiko were telling Chrissie and Jeff about 
all the great places they'd have to see when they moved to 
New York. Mom was saying that she never had a doubt he'd get 
the job. After all, how could they refuse him after he got 
all those articles published while still in grad school, and 
then his book while he was working as an adjunct at the 
university. Gina and I just congratulated him and hinted 
that we wanted to visit for a week or three.
Sarah and Tom, of course, spent the whole dinner making 
Neyawkah jokes.

     "One good thing," Dad said. "You won't need your cars."

     "What?" Chrissie looked shocked.

     "There's not much point in having a car in New York. 
You just have to leave it parked somewhere till it's 
stripped. And they can strip a car in a minute.
There's nowhere to park it anyway. You won't be able to 
afford an apartment with a garage. And the insurance will be 
more than you make in a year. But the buses and subway will 
take you wherever you need."

     "Gee, Chrissie. Can Rickie and I have your cars?" Gina 
joked.

     "Mom?" Chrissie looked sick.

     "It's all right, dear. They're just joking."

     "Mom, my water just broke."



4: Out of the Everywhere



     Jeff was like all those television dads that get stupid 
as soon as their wives go into labor. He ran out the door to 
start his car and then had to come back for his keys. On his 
way back out, he remembered that he was supposed to call the 
hospital; but he forgot to do that when something else came 
into his mind.

     Mom took control. She sent Tom out to start cars and 
make sure the drive was clear enough for them to get out. 
She sent Sarah to get Chrissie's bag, and she sent Dad to 
the phone. Then she and Aunt Keiko sat with Chrissie to keep 
her calm while everything was getting done.

     Jeff ran into the dining room, saying "ohmigod, 
ohmigod" over and over, then ran back out to do whatever his 
panicked mind was thinking at the time.

     Dad walked calmly back into the dining room and sat 
back down. "The hospital's been called, and they'll call Dr. 
Wilson. What cars do you want to take?"

     "The van's pretty good in the snow," Mrs.
Villanelle offered. "We can take Chrissie and Jeff and 
Regina, and the rest of you can follow."

     "I want to go in Dad's car!" Chrissie almost screamed, 
then started breathing heavily.

     "How far apart?" Dad asked calmly.

     "About five minutes," Mom answered.

     "Then I guess we better get started."



     We had a caravan, but I thought we might not get 
started. Mrs. V's car spun its back wheel on the driveway 
ice, and it slipped sideways. The rest of us started to push 
it, but Dad didn't wait. He just plowed his Pinto wagon 
through the snow-covered lawn and onto the road. He was gone 
for ten minutes before the rest of us got started.

     We pushed Mrs. V.'s van to the side of the drive and 
dove into the other cars. Gina, MJ, Terri, and I piled into 
Sarah's Firebird, and we were on our way.
When I looked out the back window, Uncle Amos' truck was 
pulling out of the drive. Jeff's car was behind him. I had 
no idea who was in which car.

     "Slow down, Sarah!" Gina yelled. "We just gotta get 
there sometime. Dad's the one who's gotta hurry."

     "Yeah, sorry. It's just I..."

     "We know," I interrupted. "But let's just get there."

     Uncle Amos flashed his lights, so we stopped and let 
him pull beside us.

     "Which way do you think they went?" Aunt Keiko asked.

     "I don't know," Sarah answered. "The highway might be 
faster 'cause they keep it clear, but he might take the back 
way 'cause it's shorter."

     "You kids take the highway, and we'll take the back way 
in case they get stuck."



     Dad was waiting for us when we reached the hospital.

     "It's the fourth floor," he said. "They're already up 
there. Just follow that yellow line to the elevator."

     "Is she okay?"

     "Relax, Rickie. She's fine. This is going to take 
hours, you know."

     "Hours?"

     "Of course, silly," MJ laughed. "It could take all 
night."

     "All night?"



     Dad, Mr. V., and Uncle Amos decided to get coffee and 
sandwiches from the vending machines while the rest of us 
went upstairs. Don started to come with us, but his mom sent 
him off to help the men. The rest of us stuffed ourselves 
into an elevator.

     "So, Rickie. What are you and Don fighting about this 
time?"

     "Oh, nothing, Mrs. Villanelle. He just said it would be 
better if we didn't go out together anymore."

     "Goddess, he's such a moron."

     "That's okay. Maybe he's right."

     "He's an idiot. He gets it from his father."

     We were all laughing when the elevator doors finally 
opened. Then I heard a scream.



     "It's okay, Rickie. It's perfectly normal."

     "She screamed!"

     "It's hard work, Rickie. And it hurts. But that wasn't 
Chrissie. There's another woman having a baby, too."

     One of the nurses finally closed the door between the 
waiting area and the maternity ward, and I couldn't hear the 
screaming anymore.

     "Is it... always like that?"

     "Usually, dear. But it's wonderful, too."

     I decided I was never going to have a baby.



     We had to make a lot of phone calls, so everybody was 
searching for change. MJ had to call her mom and let her 
know where she was, and her mom was pretty cool about it. 
Dad called Jeff's parents. They lived out of state, so they 
were going to fly in and stay at our house. Tom called 
Cheryl to explain why he hadn't gone to her house after 
dinner. And Sarah had to call at least a half-dozen people.



     Dr. Wilson came sauntering in a few minutes later.

     "So, we're going to have some babies tonight, hey?"

     He looked too damned happy.

     "Shouldn't you be in there with her?"

     "Relax, Rickie. There's plenty of time. Besides, Liz is 
in there now. I'll just go and check on them, then I'll give 
you a report. Okay?"

     I decided to be agreeable just so he would get in there 
and help my sister.



     Dr. Wilson didn't come out again. It was hours, and he 
never came to tell us how it was going. I was ready to just 
go through those doors and see for myself what was 
happening, but Aunt Keiko planted herself right in front of 
the doors. One look and I knew no one was getting through 
there unless she decided to let them.

     The elevator opened and Kieran and her mom rushed out.

     "How is she?" Kieran asked breathlessly.

     "Nobody's told us anything yet," Sarah answered.

     "Nobody? How long has she been in there?"

     "It's only been a few hours. We've got lots of time."

     Aunt Keiko nodded to Mrs. McGreal, then opened the door 
and let her into the maternity ward. I tried to get up to 
rush in, too; but Mom and Dad put their hands on Gina's and 
my shoulders and made us keep our seats.

     "But..."

     "It's okay, girls," Mom said. "Why don't you have a 
sandwich while we wait?"



     It was after 11:00 when Dr. Wilson finally came out. He 
wanted to talk with Mom and Dad, and he took them to the 
nurses' station. I wanted to run over and listen to what he 
was saying, but I was too scared.

     Finally he walked back to the doors, and Aunt Keiko let 
him in. Mom and Dad sat back down.

     "What's wrong?" Sarah almost shouted.

     "It's nothing serious," Dad answered. "The babies just 
aren't moving into position, and they seem to be wrapped 
around each other. Dr. Wilson is going to try to move them. 
And if he can't, then he's going to do a cesarean. It's done 
all the time, and I'm sure it will be no problem."

     But Dad didn't look very happy. Now I was really 
worried.



     The wall clock was moving very slowly. I swear it took 
the minute hand an hour to move just one click on that round 
white face. It was after midnight. Surely something must 
have happened by now.

     Dr. Wilson was at the door, and Aunt Keiko let him 
through.

     "Well, two beautiful babies. You girls have both a 
niece and a nephew. The mother's doing fine, and the babies 
are as healthy as I've ever seen."

     All of us were cheering and congratulating each other. 
We were going to rush through the doors, but Dr. Wilson 
stopped us.

     "Now let them get cleaned up a bit before you rush in 
there. I'll let you know as soon as you can come in."

     "They're all okay?" Dad asked to be sure.

     "Yes. The babies were wrapped around each other, so 
neither of them were going anywhere without the other. We 
had to take them out at the same time. And, Thomas, they 
were both born exactly at midnight."

     "Both of them?"



     We were milling around the door, eager to get in and 
see the newest members of our family. But Aunt Keiko 
wouldn't let anybody through the door until they were ready. 
Finally Dr. Wilson signaled that we could enter.

     "They're all pretty tired," he said, "So don't make too 
big of a fuss. But you can fuss a little."

     "Guys, look," Terri hissed when we were in the ward 
hall.

     When Gina and I saw where she was pointing, we stopped 
moving. Miss Harris and Bryan's art teacher were standing 
outside one of the doors. And they weren't just standing. 
From their posture, it was obvious that they were standing 
guard. At the other end of the hall was Mr. Zagief, and he 
wasn't moving or saying a word, just watching. Also in the 
hallway was that detective guy that visited us when we first 
started having trouble, Mr. Adler. We looked back the way we 
had come, and Aunt Keiko hadn't moved. And there was a big 
guy on our side of those doors.

     "Rickie," Terri whispered. "That's the judge who 
sentenced me to Wolfe!"

     "Something's going on," I whispered back.



     Chrissie was propped in bed with two babies in her 
arms. Her top was down, and both babies were sucking at her 
breasts. She kept looking at them as if she couldn't believe 
it, then looked up at Jeff with a huge smile.

     Mrs. McGreal was standing guard between the bed and the 
door.

     "You, too?" I asked.

     "Certainly, Rickie. All the regents are here.
It's a very important night."



     "Chrissie, they're beautiful," I said. I didn't mean 
it. They were red and wrinkled and looked funny.
Dad was right when he announced that they looked like 
Winston Churchill. But as far as Chrissie was concerned, 
they were the most beautiful things in the world.

     "So what you name them?" Gina asked.

     "Well, this one's Thomas and this one's Regina."

     "Oh no!" I laughed. "You should have named them after 
you and Jeff. Now Mom and Dad will be impossible."

     Chrissie smiled. "Well, we used our names for their 
middle names. We didn't want anyone calling them junior."



     Nurse Wilson chased us all out of the room.
"They're going to need their sleep. You folks can all see 
them tomorrow."

     Everybody told Chrissie and Jeff that their babies were 
beautiful, then we all danced out of the room, laughing and 
joking. We didn't go very far because Jeff was going to get 
chased out soon, and he would need a ride home. He wanted to 
stay all night, but Nurse Wilson told him to come back in 
the morning.



     "Rickie?" Don said while we were waiting for the 
drivers to get the cars.

     "What?"

     "I just... I wanted..."

     "Not tonight, Don. I'm tired, and I just want to go 
home to bed."

     "But..."

     "No, Don. I'm tired. I don't want to deal with it right 
now. If you have something to say, just call me tomorrow."

     I left him standing alone and walked over to stand with 
MJ and Terri. Cripes, he was a master at bad timing.



5: No Small Roles



     "Ga, what's wrong?"

     "It's time to get up, Rickie. We have to get ready for 
school."

     "School? Why can't we stay home? We got a good excuse."

     "Up, Rickie."

     "You're a mean and nasty sister."



     Mom didn't look any better than I felt. Three hours of 
sleep wasn't enough for either of us. Gina, on the other 
hand, was being perky. I hated perky.
Both Mom and I looked for something to hit her with that 
wouldn't take too much work.

     "Why don't you go back to bed for a little while, Mom?"

     "I can't, dear. It's my turn to drive you to school."

     "So send us back to bed. Then you don't have to worry 
about it."

     "C'mon, Rickie," Gina said far too cheerily.
"Don't you want to tell everyone you're an aunt?"

     "You'll pay for this, girl."

     "She's right, Rickie. You'll feel better when you've 
been awake for a bit. Besides, I have to go to the hospital 
this morning after I drop you at school."

     "Mom, you make me go to school and I'll tell everybody 
you're a grandmother."

     The heaviest thing Mom could throw at me was a dish 
towel.



     "Gee, Rickie. You look terrible."

     "Thanks, Terri. That makes me feel so much better."

     "I'm sorry. I just meant... you know."



     I had to sit through PE. We were doing fencing, and I 
was so tired I was dangerous. Miss Chance was real nice 
about it, and she seemed thrilled to hear that Chrissie had 
her babies and that I had been there. Besides, she said, I 
might learn just as much by watching Janice and Jim.

     Janice and Jim were really good with the swords.
Jim had been doing it since he was a little kid, and he was 
a lot better than even Miss Chance. He was teaching Janice, 
and he already had her working with a saber while the other 
kids still were using foils. Jim said that he'd make Janice 
a master of the katana before spring break.

     It was a lot of fun to watch them. It was a lot better 
than watching actors in the movies, even though they never 
looked as if they were working very hard at it. I marveled 
at their skill for about two minutes before I fell asleep.



     Mom took us to the hospital before we went home.
Chrissie looked really tired, but she joked and smiled the 
whole time we were there. She also fed the twins, so Bryan 
and Sparks stayed in the hall till she was done.

     "That looks really uncomfortable," I said. "Can't you 
feed them one at a time?"

     "I tried. They won't eat unless the other one is 
eating. They're a lot like another pair of twins I know."

     "So when do you get out?"

     "Tomorrow. Dr. Wilson wants me to stay at least one 
night. He wanted me to stay longer, but I want to go home."

     The babies finished eating, and Chrissie asked Gina and 
me if we wanted to hold them. I was a little worried, but 
Mom and Mrs. McGreal showed us how to do it and stood beside 
us to make sure we didn't do anything wrong.

     "They're so beautiful," I whispered, and I meant it 
this time. "Which one do I have?"

     "You have Thomas," Chrissie said. "At least, I think 
so."

     "Hi, little Thomas," I said to the baby. "You know, 
you're going to need a nickname. There's too many Toms in 
our house." I looked at his face, trying to decide what I 
was going to call him. "I know. I'll call you 'Bug'."

     "Rickie! Don't you dare!"

     "Sorry, Mom. But little Thomas is definitely Bug."

     Bug and Little Regina didn't seem to mind, so I guessed 
it was okay with them.



     The heater wasn't working in Mom's car. So by the time 
we got home, we were half frozen. All I wanted to do was to 
curl in a blanket and sleep. Of course, the phone rang.

     "Rickie, it's Don."

     I grumbled all the way to the phone.

     "Hi, Don. What do you want?"

     "Uh, Rickie? I'm sorry..."

     "Don, your timing sucks. I've had three hours sleep in 
two days. I'm tired. I'm going to take a nap.
Why don't you call me later."

     "I'm sorry, I, uh..."

     "Bye, Don." And I hung up the phone.



     "Rickie, dinner's ready."

     "Mmmphlg. I'll be there in a minute."

     "Mom said to let you sleep if you want."

     "No. I'm fine. I think."



     "How you feeling, dear?"

     "Fine, Mom. That nap helped a lot. Where is everybody?"

     "They're at the hospital. Your father and I are going 
after dinner. You want to come?"

     "Yeah, that'd be great."

     Of course, at that moment the phone rang.

     "Hello, Don."

     "Hi, Rickie. I..."

     "Don, I'm just about to eat dinner."

     "I'm sorry, I..."

     "Look, I gotta go. We're visiting my sister right 
after, so I won't be home till late."

     "Rickie, please!"

     "Please? You dumped me in a restaurant. What was that? 
Did you want to make sure I didn't make a scene?
Did you want to pretend it was all civilized and crap?
Well, Don, I'm about the most uncivilized girl you're ever 
gonna meet. You think you're gonna apologize over the phone? 
After that? It's not gonna happen, Don. No way. So don't 
start calling me to tell me you're sorry, 'cause right now I 
don't give a damn. Now I'm going to eat, and then I'm going 
out. Don't call again tonight." And I hung up.

     "Good for you, dear," Mom cheered from the door.

     "He's such a twit!"

     "He's 16, dear. All 16-year-old boys are like that 
sometimes."

     "How long does it take them to grow out of it?"

     "Most of them never do, hon."



     "Chrissie! What's that?"

     "That's his umbilical, Rickie."

     "Is it supposed to be like that?"

     "Sure. It'll dry up and fall off in a little while."

     "That is so gross." I made a face at the kid.
"Hey, Bug, you know you've got something gross sticking out 
of your belly? Huh?"

     It wasn't a lot of fun teasing him, since he didn't 
fight back. Instead, he started crying. I shifted him so I 
could hand him back to Chrissie, but he put his mouth on my 
breast and started sucking.

     "Whoa, Bug. Wrong girl. You want your mom over there."

     I tried to get him off and hand him to Chrissie, but he 
started screaming.

     "Just let him stay for a few minutes, " Mom suggested. 
"Unless he's hurting you."

     It was so weird. I was kind of freaked, but it was kind 
of neat, too.

     "Mom?" Gina said.

     "Is she hurting you, dear?"

     "No, not really. But should she be doing this?"

     "That's what babies do, Gina. She's fine."

     "Well, now I know what I'm gonna call you, little 
Regina. From now on, I'm calling you 'Slurp'."

     "Mom," Chrissie whined. "You're not gonna let those two 
give them those nicknames, are you?"

     "I'm afraid they already have, Chrissie."



     Since he wasn't getting anything, Bug stopped sucking 
on me. But he seemed happy. At least, he wasn't crying. I 
put my finger in his little hand, and he grabbed it. Sort 
of. He was so cute.

     I worried that Chrissie might get a little jealous that 
Bug was so happy with me. But she looked tired. She said her 
nipples were really sore, too. So I guess she was glad to 
have someone else hold the twins for a while. And I was glad 
to hold him. I don't know; it was really weird, but it was a 
nice weird. He was so tiny, I just wanted to keep him safe 
and warm and happy.

     "Uh, Mom?" Gina said. "Slurp is really wet."

     "Then we need to change her. You want to learn how?"

     "Not really."

     "You might as well learn now."

     I decided not to tell Mom that Bug was wet, too.
But she checked, so I had to learn to change a baby, too.



     "Ga! That's awful!"

     "Yes, dear."

     "But it's all green! Is it supposed to be that color?"



     I thought I was going to throw up. The worst was when 
Bug decided to spray me. I didn't know he could do that. But 
we got the babies cleaned, powdered, and changed. Then I 
tried to clean my top.

     "You'll pay for that, Bug."

     His sister began to scream.

     "I didn't mean it, Slurp," I told her. "I'd never hurt 
your brother."

     She calmed down right away.



     Mom and Chrissie let Gina and me hold the kids after 
they were changed. Bug looked a little tired, so I decided 
to sing him a lullaby.

     "Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the 
everywhere into here. Where did you get your eyes so blue? 
Out of the sky as I came through."

     "You remember that song?" Chrissie asked.

     "I'm not sure where I learned it. It just came to me."

     "I used to sing that to you when you were a baby."

     "You hear that, Bug? Your mom sang that to me when I 
was a baby."

     But Bug wasn't paying attention. He was sound asleep.



     I didn't want to give Bug up when it was time to go. 
Gina was even more reluctant than I was. Then, when we 
handed the twins to Chrissie, they woke up and started to 
cry. She tried to give them her breasts, but they refused 
and kept screaming.

     "Don't worry," Chrissie said. "You'll see them 
tomorrow."

     The babies stopped crying and went back to sleep.



6: The Sky as I Came Through



     "Don called me last night," Bryan said after his dad 
dropped us off.

     "That's nice."

     "Don't you want to know what he said?"

     "Not particularly."



     Miss Harris wasn't at the circle meeting. I wasn't 
surprised; she probably still was hanging around the 
hospital. But I wish they had a different substitute than 
the headmaster.



     "C'mon, Rickie. He wanted to apologize."

     "Why? What did he do to you?"

     "No, he wanted to apologize to you."

     "Then why did he call you?"

     "He says you won't talk to him."

     "He's full of it."

     "So he can call you?"

     "Of course not."



     "Ah, Miss Addams. Class is so much easier when you're 
awake."

     "Sorry, Mr. Taliafero."

     "No, it's quite all right. I fully understand.
Now, for this next problem, I want you to imagine a 
spherical cow."



     The cafeteria was crowded, and we had a hard time 
finding a table. Nobody missed lunch these days, and the 
snow kept everybody inside. Finally we sat at the ends of 
two tables and talked across the aisle in between.

     "Anybody send out their early admission papers yet?" 
Bryan asked.

     "We sent them last week," Gina answered. "But we think 
we're gonna send to another school."

     "Yeah?"

     "Jeff got a job at Columbia. Rickie and I thought we 
might go there."

     "No!" Terri shouted. She ran out of the cafeteria.



     "Terri, what's wrong?" We found her crying in the 
restroom.

     "You know what Stretch is doing? He's gonna go to MIT! 
That's in Massachusetts! And now you two want to go to New 
York. Everybody's leaving but me!"

     "Oh, Terri. You don't know that. Nobody knows what 
we're doing yet."

     "Some guy from MIT already called Stretch. He's got an 
interview next week. You know he's gonna get in. Now you two 
are going away."

     "But you're going to college, too."

     "Yeah, great. The Doc can get me into State."

     "So apply to MIT."

     "I did. No one's coming to talk to me."



     Everybody in our circle was going to skip our senior 
year. Bryan had already gotten into the state university as 
an art major. Professor Jacobi had it arranged before Bryan 
even applied. And Dana and Derek probably were going to the 
University of Pennsylvania.
Dana's dad was some kind of bigwig in the alumni 
association, and he said they were guaranteed to get in. Jim 
and Janice probably were going to California.

     Gina and I sat with Terri and felt just as bad as she 
did. If we went to Columbia, we'd see our friends only on 
holidays and in the summer. After a year or two, we probably 
wouldn't see them that often. And Buck, MJ, Nancy, and Don 
would still have another year of high school. It was like 
the whole gang was going to break up.

     It still was a long way away. Even if we all got into 
the schools we wanted, it was eight months before we'd 
leave. But it already was tearing at us. We all thought that 
by next year, we wouldn't see each other again. Terri might 
have been the loudest, but all of us felt the way she did.



     "We going to Barney's today?" Terri asked.

     "Chrissie's supposed to come home, so we were gonna 
just hang out there and maybe watch the kids.
Want to come over?"

     "I'll have to check with the old fart first."

     "I'm sure my aunt will be there, so maybe Uncle Amos 
will come for dinner."

     "Yeah, that'll be cool. I'll have to check first."

     "How 'bout you guys?" Gina asked Janice and Dana.

     Derek was going to Dana's house for her brother's 
birthday; but he suggested that Dana's mom could pick them 
up at our house instead of the school, so Dana ran off to 
call her mom. Janice and Jim had to work in the dorm 
kitchen, so they couldn't come.

     Derek wanted us to make sure it was okay before they 
came over. He argued that Chrissie just got out of the 
hospital, so she might want to just rest. But Mom told us at 
breakfast that there were going to be a lot of people in the 
house all evening and it would be nice if we and our friends 
were there to help out.

     Dana came back yelling that it was all set. "And don't 
you scare those little babies," she poked Derek.

     We all laughed at that. Everywhere we went, little kids 
seemed to love Derek. They followed him around and begged 
him to play. It was Dana who scared them.



     Dad showed up in the Pinto, which meant that half of us 
were going to be scrunched up in the back. But at least it 
would be warm. Sparks had built a heater for the Pinto that 
would keep everybody toasty even when Dad drove with his 
window down. In fact, if Dad turned the heater all the way 
up, we had to roll down all the windows.

     "Terri," Dad called out. "Amos says you're supposed to 
come home with us."



     Dad had to beep for Tom to move Cheryl's car so he 
could get into the drive. The drive was filled, and cars 
were lining our street. Mom was right when she said there'd 
be a crowd, but I didn't expect this many people.

     When we walked into the living room, however, it was 
empty. Mom rushed out of the kitchen with a tray of food.

     "Girls, thank god you're here. Take this into the stone 
room and come back for more."

     "Can we help?" Dana asked.

     "Bless you, yes."

     I grabbed the tray of deviled eggs and ran into the 
stone room. There must have been at least 30 people there, 
standing around and talking. If they were in any other room, 
the noise probably would have been deafening; but the stone 
room could make a brass band sound quiet.

     As soon as I got there, people started reaching for the 
eggs. But I decided that Chrissie and Jeff should get first 
shot at them. She was sitting in the big chair in the far 
corner, with two large wicker bassinets on either side of 
her. There was a huge pile of open presents on both sides of 
her chair. When I got there, both babies were sleeping in 
one of the bassinets.

     "Thanks, Rickie. But Mom's been stuffing me with food 
since I got home. Maybe you can slow her down."

     "Not a chance," I laughed, then Chrissie, Jeff, and I 
shouted at the same time, "Mange!"

     "I got these, Rickie." Jeff took the tray from my 
hands. "Have you met my parents?"

     I said hi to the Dukes, told them they had lovely 
grandkids, then excused myself so I could help Mom. It still 
took me forever to get out of the room. Everyone wanted to 
stop me so we could talk. If Derek and Gina hadn't 
distracted them with more trays of food, I probably would 
never have gotten out of there.



     "Mom, who are those people?"

     "I think the whole Duke clan came," Mom said. I could 
tell she was tired. "His parents, aunts and uncles, and his 
brother are all here. I don't know where we're going to put 
them all. Help me get dinner started, will you?"

     "Sure, Mom. Can you use a couple more hands?"

     "Oh, hon, anyone you can get to come over and help 
would be a godsend."

     "Let me call MJ. Maybe she can bring Nancy, too."

     "That would be wonderful. Tell them we have plenty of 
food. Tom and Sarah just went out for more, so we should be 
fine."

     "I just saw Tom with Cheryl."

     "No, I meant Jeff's brother. His name is Tom, too. It's 
going to be a bit confusing."

     MJ was going to call Nancy, then her mother would give 
them both a ride over. So at least we had a little more 
help. And we needed it, because as soon as I was off the 
phone, Jeff came in to ask me and Gina to try to quiet the 
babies.



     "I'm sorry, guys." Chrissie said with a weary sigh. 
"But I have to go for a minute, and I think these two are a 
little scared of all the new faces."

     I took one of the screaming babies off Mrs. Duke, and 
Gina took the other off an aunt. They quieted immediately.

     "Hi, Slurp," I said to the baby I grabbed. "You miss 
us?"

     "That's Thomas, Rickie," Chrissie said.

     "No it's not. Gina's got Bug."

     Chrissie pulled at the diaper to make sure.

     "Oh, lord. I can't even tell my own kids apart!"



     At a day and a half, babies don't do much.
Basically, they make sucking sounds, crying sounds, or 
messing their diaper sounds. As soon as Chrissie was on her 
way to the bathroom, Bug and Slurp made the messing their 
diaper sound.

     "Perfect timing, Bug," Gina laughed.

     We sort of hoped that at least one of the women in the 
room would volunteer to help, but all of them just looked 
around nervously. Surprise.

     "Jeff, where are the clean diapers?"

     Jeff looked at me like I was speaking Swahili.

     "Diapers, Jeff."

     Maybe it was Chinese.

     "Got 'em, Rickie," Gina called. Now we just had to find 
a place to clean the babies without making everyone throw 
up.



     After we got them changed, I held both babies while 
Gina went to change her sweater.

     "Way to go, Bug," I whispered when Gina was out of 
earshot. I swear he made something like a smile.



     We heard Chrissie in the kitchen, so we took the babies 
in to see her.

     "Hi, little Regina," she said to Bug. "Thanks, you two. 
You've been a major help. If you bring them into the dining 
room, maybe I can feed them before the horde finds out where 
we are."

     Chrissie walked really slow, holding her belly the 
whole way.

     "Are you okay?"

     "Just tired and really, really sore. Maybe they'll 
sleep after I feed them, then I can take a nap, too."

     "We're here to help," Gina said.

     "Thanks. But you may regret offering."



     "Rickie," Tom called from the kitchen. "Don's on the 
phone."



7: A Mind of Winter



     "Don, this is a really bad time."

     "Rickie, just give me a minute. Please?"

     "Hurry up, Don."

     "Look I just wanted to see you to apologize. I know I 
was a jerk."

     "So come to the fort and apologize."

     "I meant somewhere where we could be alone."

     "Why? You broke up with me in a crowd. But you want to 
keep your apology a secret? I'm not impressed."

     "Rickie," he whined. "It's not like that."

     MJ and Nancy came in the front door, so I called to 
them from the kitchen.

     "So Mary Jo's there, is that it?"

     "Yeah, Don. Mary Jo is here. You got a problem with 
that?"

     "C'mon, Rickie. You don't see me getting mad..."

     "Don, get bent!" And I slammed the phone.



     "We come at a bad time?" Nancy asked.

     "You came at the perfect time. It's just kind of a 
madhouse."

     "Girls, thank you for coming. If you could find Sarah 
and Cheryl, I'm going to put you on KP. And Rickie, stay 
with Chrissie in case she needs help."



     I got back to the dining room just as Chrissie was 
unplugging the squirts. Gina tossed me a towel, and we 
burped the kids while Chrissie put herself back together.

     "Not on the hair, Slurp," I cried as she managed to 
completely miss the towel. "You did that on purpose." I was 
looking right in her eyes, and I swear she winked.

     "I'm sorry, Rickie."

     "It's not your fault, Chrissie. It's the little 
stinkpot here." I tickled Slurp's belly, and she responded 
by making her filling the diaper sound."

     "Not again," Gina said to Bug. "We just changed you!"

     "I'll take care of them," Chrissie moaned."

     "Nah, you just go take a nap," I said. "We can do the 
diaper bit. Besides, I gotta get changed again anyway."

     We helped Chrissie up to her room and used her bathroom 
to change the diapers. Mom had put a changing table in 
there, so it was a lot easier. And this time Gina used an 
extra diaper to keep Bug from spraying her.

     We tried to get Chrissie to lie down, but she kept 
hovering while we changed the kids.

     "Better not get used to this," Gina teased Bug.
"Pretty soon you'll be in the big, bad city with just your 
mom and dad."

     "Didn't Mom tell you? We're not going to Columbia after 
all."

     "What?"

     "Yeah. When his department chair found out Jeff was 
leaving, they topped Columbia's offer. We're going to stay 
here."

     "That's wonderful."

     "It really is. I really didn't want to move. Not with 
the twins, and then trying to set up a new apartment and 
find another job and all."

     "You hear that, Slurp? You're stuck with us, so you 
better start treating us right."



     "I thought newborns were supposed to sleep most of the 
time."

     "Maybe something's wrong," Chrissie worried.

     "Nah. If there was something wrong, they wouldn't be 
this happy. I think they're just spoiled."

     "Can you spoil a two-day-old?" Gina asked.

     "We can try."

     If we put them down, they screamed. And they wouldn't 
stop until we picked them up again. I voted for letting them 
scream themselves to sleep, but Chrissie couldn't sleep if 
they were making any noise.
So Gina and I sat in the rockers Dad had gotten for Chrissie 
and Jeff and tried to rock the squirts into sleeping.

     There was a light knock on the door, followed by a 
whispered, "Rickie?"

     I took Bug with me and tiptoed to the door so I 
wouldn't wake Chrissie.

     "Your mom wants to know if everything's okay," MJ 
whispered. "God, they're so cute!"

     I told her what was going on, and she left to tell Mom. 
MJ came back a few minutes later and told us to bring the 
squirts down so that Jeff could take care of them for a 
while.

     "They're so cute!" Dana and Terri gushed when we got to 
the kitchen.

     "We set up the tables in the stone room," Mom said. 
"Why don't you let Jeff take them while you sit down for a 
minute."

     "What about you, Mom?"

     "I'll be in in just a minute. I need to put the dessert 
in the oven as soon as the timer goes off."

     I was going to give Mom a hard time, but Aunt Keiko 
came in to do it for me.



     The squirts started screaming as soon as we gave them 
to Jeff. Gina and I were going to take them back, but Mom 
gave us a look. Jeff was going to have to learn.

     Every adult in the room was offering advice, none of it 
the same as was offered by anyone else. But no matter what 
Jeff tried, the kids just screamed.
Finally Derek stood up and walked to Jeff's chair. All the 
Dukes drew in their breath; I could tell that Derek scared 
them. But he just leaned over the kids and whispered 
something, and the squirts started making gurgling sounds, 
then fell asleep.

     "Derek is great with kids," Dana said proudly, but 
quietly, as Jeff tried to take the squirts to bed without 
waking them.

     "He's pretty good with bunny rabbits and squirrels, 
too," Terri added.



     Jeff came back down about ten minutes later, looking as 
proud as if he had just conquered Asia Minor. "They're sound 
asleep," he whispered.

     Mrs. McGreal congratulated Jeff, and everyone joined 
in. At first I thought they should be congratulating Derek, 
since he was the one who actually got the kids to sleep. But 
Jeff needed all the encouragement he could get. He was going 
to have to deal with the kids for a long time, and he might 
as well start out by feeling good about it.



     When Dana's mom picked up Dana and Derek, the Dukes all 
made a sigh of relief and whispered nastily to each other. I 
had no idea why Derek would scare them. He was just a heavy, 
round, hard as a rock, black-eyed teddy bear. It was Dana 
who should have scared them.



     "So what was that with Don?" Nancy asked while we were 
rinsing the dishes.

     "He called to say he'd apologize to me only when no one 
else was around," I answered. "What a jerk."

     "So what are you going to do?"

     "Nothing."

     "Aren't you going to forgive him?"

     "Not like that, I'm not."

     "I don't know, Rickie. Guys don't like to do that kind 
of stuff in public."

     "Too bad. He had no trouble dumping me in public."

     "So you gonna get back together?"

     "I doubt it."



     "No, Regina. It's settled. We already have the rooms."

     Mrs. Duke had just told Mom that the whole Duke clan 
were staying at a motel, and Mom was trying to talk her out 
of it. But everyone knew that Mrs. Duke was right. Chrissie 
needed a lot of rest, and she was not going to get it with a 
house full of guests.

     Most of the clan was leaving on Thursday morning, but 
Mr. and Mrs. Duke and their younger son were going to stay 
to the end of the week.

     "But you're not to go to any trouble, Regina," she 
ordered. "We can feed ourselves. And tomorrow, we are taking 
you out to dinner. No arguments."

     Telling Mom not to argue was pretty futile, but Mrs. 
Duke had a nifty way of winning. She just pretended not to 
hear and went on as if it was settled. I would have to 
remember that trick.



     I heard the babies wake up. Jeff heard them, too.
He excused himself and went to help Chrissie. The Dukes 
thought he was hearing things, and they didn't believe the 
rest of us when we said that we also heard the babies wake.

     Mr. Duke turned to his son and whispered, "Nobody's 
ears are that good."

     "Mine are," I said. "Mine, too," Gina added.

     "You could hear me?"

     "Sure. It wasn't that quiet."

     "Well, I couldn't hear it," Mrs. Duke said. "And you're 
on the other side of the room."

     "We could hear it," Tom said as he hauled pieces of our 
party tables out of the stone room. "He said, 'Nobody's ears 
are that good'."

     "Yeah, he said it pretty loud," Sarah called from the 
kitchen.

     "I'll be damned. I apologize." Mr. Duke looked 
apologetic, but the rest of his clan looked scared again.



     Dad got up to see who was coming to the door. Now I 
knew it wasn't that our hearing was so good. The Dukes 
couldn't hear the car door shut or the footsteps crunch 
across the snow outside. Living in a city must have made 
them deaf.

     "Don, come in."

     Damn. I was going to run to the kitchen, but Mom glared 
me right back into my seat.

     "Excuse me, everybody." Don stood in the middle of the 
living room. "Rickie, I apologize. I was an as... an idiot. 
I'm really sorry."

     I just stared at him. I had no idea what to say.

     "Please, Rickie. Will you forgive me?"

     "I... I accept your apology, Don."

     "Great!" And he tried to sit with me.

     "You need to go, Don. This isn't a good time."

     "Okay. Can I see you Thursday?"

     "I don't think so. I get home kinda late, and it's a 
school night."

     "So before I go to work on Saturday?"

     "I'm going to Derek's party. I'll be getting ready for 
that."

     "But... You just said..."

     "I said I accepted your apology, Don. I didn't say we 
were getting back together. I don't know if I want to do 
that again."

     "I... Okay. Can I call you sometime?"

     "Sure, Don. Call me sometime."

     He looked awful as he hurried to the door. I felt 
lousy.



     I found an excuse to go upstairs for a few minutes. MJ 
followed me to my room.

     "Rickie, are you gonna get back with Don?"

     "I don't think so."

     "I think you should."

     "What? But we..."

     "I know, Rickie. And I'm not giving you up. It's 
just... I don't know. Something's wrong. I mean, I'd love to 
have you all to myself. But something is really, really 
wrong. I don't know what, but I'm scared."

     "It's okay. We..."

     "It's not okay! Rickie, I am _really_ scared!"

     I held her, hoping that if I held her tight enough, I 
could make her fear go away. And maybe, if I squeezed her 
even tighter, my fear might go away, too.




8: Not What You Know



     Gina and I woke up in the middle of the night.
The squirts were crying. But Jeff was up. We could hear him 
carry the squirts to Chrissie in bed. That's nice, I 
thought; and we fell back asleep.



     Chrissie shuffled to the breakfast table. Every loud 
noise scared her. She was afraid the squirts would wake 
again.



     The headmaster taught what had to be the weirdest 
history class in the world. None of us realized it until we 
talked with kids in other schools. They learned about kings 
and presidents, generals and reformers. We learned about 
Adam Weishaupt, Golden Dawn, and the introduction of the 
Brown Betty. Other schools taught that history happened 
because it had to, kind of like evolution with direction. We 
learned that history was conspiracy.

     Today's lesson we were plotting the sightings of 
Ahasuersus from the 12th century to 1890. We were studying 
the Kennedy assassination.



     "Do you think he's sane?" Caitlin asked.

     "At least as sane as the rest of us," I answered.

     "That poor man."



     "So what you get Derek?" I asked Sparks. Saturday was 
Derek's birthday, and Gina and I were having a hard time 
finding something he might like.

     "I made him a pair of night glasses."

     "Night glasses? For Derek? Isn't that kinda like a wig 
for a werewolf?"

     "Nah. These are different. They're night binoculars. I 
made them to fit his eyes."

     "Cool." But it didn't help me a bit.

     I knew what Bryan would give him, the same thing he 
gave everyone. We all had enough art to start a museum. And 
Nancy would burn him a stack of CDs.
Terri, of course, would give him something that he'd never 
be able to show to anybody without getting arrested for 
having it.

     Even Caitlin and Heather would be able to make him 
something neat. Caitlin would fire one of her weird little 
bowls, and Heather would stick a flower and a tree branch in 
it. It doesn't sound like much, but it would be so pretty 
that you couldn't take your eyes off it until the plants 
finally withered.

     Gina and I couldn't make him anything. We always had to 
buy our presents, which wasn't half as much fun. And we had 
been looking forever without being able to find anything 
Derek might like.

     "So what you get him?" Sparks asked.

     "We haven't found anything yet," I complained.
"Any ideas?"

     "I don't know. Why don't you check out some of those 
weird little stores around Barney's. They always have 
something interesting."

     "I hope so. Otherwise it's another sweater."



     Caitlin and Heather had reserved an entire table for 
lunch. With a wet snow blowing outside, that was a pretty 
amazing feat. I didn't want to know whom they had to 
threaten to manage it.

     We had a lot of people to crowd around the table.
In addition to our circle, we had the four kids left from 
circle F. Usually, when a circle lost most of its members, 
the school would just combine them with another circle that 
also lost members. Since a lot of kids didn't make it 
through the first year at Wolfe, that meant there were 
always circles that could be combined. But for some reason, 
no one wanted to join with the F kids, even though they were 
the nicest kids in school. So we just sort of adopted them, 
though Bryan preferred to use the word, "absorbed."

     Manuel and Gordon came in together. They had been a 
couple since their first week at Wolfe, which was a nifty 
trick because Manuel didn't speak enough English to talk to 
Gordon for about three months. One of the circles that got 
booted the first month was expelled because they attacked 
Manuel and Gordon for being gay.
The rumor was that the school had to pay their medical bills 
after Manuel was finished with them, but Manuel insisted 
that he "hurt them not much."

     Bryan joked that the F kids joined with us because we 
were the only kids in the school who were bigger misfits 
than they were. That wasn't true. We got along with 
everybody in the junior class. After all, with only 36 kids 
in the class, it was kind of easy to be friendly with 
everybody. But I guess it was true that most of the kids in 
school thought we were just a bit more freaky than average. 
And at Wolfe, that was saying something.

     We had just sat down when there was a disturbance at 
the other end of the cafeteria. We would have done something 
to stop it, but the headmaster was already on his way.

     "Freshman," Gordon sighed.

     "There were too many of them anyway," Sparks commented, 
then turned his attention back to the day's lunch.

     "They're doing better than most classes," Caitlin said. 
"After today, they'll still have six full circles. That's 
gotta be a record. And they're supposed to be the smartest 
class yet."

     "If they're so smart," Sparks said, "why would they get 
themselves expelled on a day when we've got blue chicken for 
lunch?"

     What the cafeteria called "blue chicken" was a thin 
piece of chicken wrapped in a thin slice of spiced ham, then 
breaded. It was filled with an incredible cheese sauce and 
covered with the same sauce. Everyone agreed that anyone who 
got themselves expelled before lunch on a blue chicken day 
had to be an idiot.

     "Maybe they're vegans," Heather said after she 
swallowed her bite.



     "Keep the point up, Rickie!"

     Fencing looked so easy in the movies. But after 20 
minutes, my shoulders and legs ached. And as a teacher, Miss 
Chance was as bad as the old bastard.

     "No, Rickie. You're leaving your side wide open.
Do it again. And don't hold it so tight."

     "Ow!"

     "Terri, we do not attack the legs in this class," Miss 
Chance reprimanded her.

     "It's not my fault. She's too tall."

     Everyone broke up at that, even me. Terri was the only 
person in the school shorter than Gina and me.
Even the freshmen were bigger.



     "So, Dana. What you get Derek?"

     "It's a secret, Gina."

     "Come on, you can tell us."

     "Well, I got something from Madame Jane's."

     "You mean that shop across from Barney's? What do they 
have for guys?"

     "It's not exactly for guys. Let's just say that Derek's 
mom sleeps _very_ soundly."



     "So what can we say about Roethke's poems?
Rickie?"

     "Well, Miss Harris, they're kind of like a dance.
Though you don't catch the meter right away, if you read 
them out loud, you can see how it sort of sways in a waltz."

     "Very good, Rickie! Not many people catch that."

     At least I got something from going out with Don for so 
long.



     "What's with the second pair of thermals?" Janice asked 
as we changed in her room.

     "We're gonna be outside for a couple of hours, and 
probably wet most of the time," Gina answered. "We almost 
froze last week."

     "They make you look fat. Why can't you change when you 
get there?"

     "'Cause the old bastard makes us work out in whatever 
we're wearing. If we showed up in skirts and heels, he'd 
make us work out in those."

     "That's stupid."

     "No, it makes sense," I said. "He says that if someone 
attacks us, they're not gonna let us go home to change 
first."



     "Lian hua, even little children do this at the circus. 
Surely you can do something that a little child can do."

     "Uh, Master Li, isn't the rope pulled tight at a 
circus?" I asked. "That's why they call it a tightrope."

     The OB stood silent for a few seconds. "I apologize, 
Lian hua. I have never been to a circus.
Now get up and try it again."



     The tea was hot and wonderful. I kept my fingers 
wrapped around the cup to soak up every bit of heat I could.

     "So, Lian hua. It seems that it is time for a story."

     "A story, Master Li?"

     "Yes, it is a story about a very foolish boy. He was a 
student of mine, just as you two are now my students. This 
student fell in love. The girl was very beautiful, and she 
also loved him. At first they were inseparable. To see one 
was to see the other, and to see both was a joy.

     "But this student was very, very foolish. He was 
afraid, you see. He was afraid that he had become something 
terrible, something that could not be loved.
He was afraid that he was too different from this girl, and 
that she should not love him. He convinced himself that his 
fear was for the girl's well-being.

     "And so he began fighting with this girl.
Sometimes he started the fight. Sometimes he thought she 
did. Often the fights were over nothing at all, just because 
one would not understand what the other had said.

     "It became very bad to see. Their world grew out of 
balance, and they both grew very sad. They would fight and 
throw themselves apart. But because that was the wrong thing 
to do, they came together again and again. Half their life 
was misery, half was waiting for the misery to return.

     "He was a good student; he worked very hard and 
listened to all I had to say. But because his world had 
grown out of balance, all his studies meant nothing. His 
deep fear made him work harder than any other student, but 
it also kept him from learning that which it is most 
important to learn.

     "He had a friend, his sister. She was sad to see her 
brother fight against his love. She tried to reason with 
him. She argued with him. But his fear was deep, and all her 
efforts did not stop him from pushing away his love.

     "He had friends who tried to make him see his 
foolishness. But, because he had never told them of his 
fear, he became certain that they could not understand. And 
so, in spite of their attempts to help him, his foolishness 
grew worse.

     "I tried to talk to him. I tried to explain that his 
fear was making his world lose balance. I tried to tell him 
that his fear kept him from making a true decision. But he 
would not listen. He kept fighting with this girl, driving 
her away. It was a terrible thing to see."

     Master Li took a sip of his tea. He stared into the cup 
and looked sad, as if he was remembering that poor boy. But 
he didn't say anything more.

     "What happened, Master Li?"

     "Ah, Lian hua. I finally decided that I had to beat the 
foolishness out of him before it was too late, before all 
the world was swallowed in his sadness. It took a long time. 
But finally, in his rage, he lost his fear. He married the 
girl. It was not easy. There were those arrayed against him 
who would curse his life. There was tragedy, and he suffered 
great sadness. But he also had beauty, and joy, and love."

     "So you brought them together again?"

     "Yes, Lian hua. But foolishness never ends.
Always it arises again. That foolish boy learned. But now I 
am afraid that I will need to start beating his daughter."






9: All the Little Emptiness



     "And if he doesn't beat you, I will!"

     "C'mon, Gina. It's not my fault. Mom?"

     "I don't entirely agree with your sister, Rickie.
You haven't been a _total_ bitch. I'm sure you've been nice 
to Don occasionally."

     "Mo-om!"



     "Remember to dress nicely, girls. The Dukes are taking 
us out tonight."

     "What about Chrissie, Mom? Shouldn't someone stay with 
her and the squirts?"

     "Dr. Wilson was here earlier, Rickie. He said it would 
be fine to take Chrissie and the babies out to dinner, as 
long as we keep them warm."

     "Warm, Mom? So that means we take Dad's car?"

     "Oh dear. Do you think you could get Sparks to work on 
my car, girls?"

     "Not before dinner."

     "Girls, next time I say I'd rather take it to a 
professional mechanic, please remind me that I'm being an 
idiot."



     "So what're we gonna wear?"

     "Something nice, but washable."

     "Good idea. But, Rickie, if we change the squirts 
tonight, you get Bug."



     "You look very nice, Chrissie."

     "Thanks, Mom. But I feel like a sow."

     "It takes a little time, dear. Don't worry. Most of 
that will go away."

     "Most?"



     "Hi, MJ. We're going out to dinner tonight."

     "Cool. What about Chrissie and the babies? They need 
help?"

     "Dr. Wilson was here earlier, and he said it'd be 
okay."

     "You have a doctor that makes house calls? So where are 
you going?"

     "I don't know. The Dukes are taking us."

     "They're a strange family. I mean, they're nice, I 
guess. But I thought Derek was gonna give them a heart 
attack."

     "Yeah, I know. They really don't have a clue.
They thought Terri was a sweet little innocent."

     "Total maroons."



     "My, you two look very nice."

     "Thanks, Mrs. Duke. We wanted to wear something we 
could clean easily so we could help Chrissie with the 
twins."

     "That is very thoughtful of you, girls. I guess twins 
run in your family."

     "Only when we're in a hurry."



     "Regina, I asked the people at the motel what was the 
nicest restaurant around, and they said Georgio's.
I hope it's okay."

     "Oh, yes. It's very nice."

     "Well, they seemed nice on the phone. At first they 
didn't think they'd have room for all of us. But when I told 
them our son and his wife just had twins, the gentleman said 
he'd be very happy to have us and that he'd be sure we had 
the nicest table."

     "Georgio's!"

     "Yes, Rickie. Is there something wrong?"

     "I, uh, no, Mrs. Duke. It's a very nice place."

     And if Gina didn't stop hitting me, I was going to turn 
around and thwack her one.



     "Gee, Chrissie. Got enough stuff?"

     "This is just half of it. Jeff's got the rest."

     "What have you got in there?"

     "Bottles, diapers, extra blankets, extra suits, wipes, 
powder, towels..."



     "Chrissie, wouldn't you rather ride with us, dear?"

     "Thanks, Mrs. Duke. But my dad's car has the best 
heater in town. I want to make sure the babies stay warm."

     "I'm sure the Lincoln has a better heater," Mr.
Duke argued. So Dad opened the door to the Pinto and let a 
blast of heat hit Mr. Duke in the face.

     "I'll be. I didn't think these had heaters that good."

     "A friend of the twins made it for me. Best heater I 
ever had. And I'm pretty sure there's enough shielding 
around the plutonium."

     Mr. Duke looked a bit green. I think he wasn't sure 
that Dad was joking about the plutonium. Come to think of 
it, I'd have to ask Sparks what he used.



     The Dukes were going to follow Dad to the restaurant. 
Tom and Sarah were going to pick up Cheryl and meet us 
there. Since we got to ride with the Dukes, we got to push 
the Lincoln when it got stuck in the drive.

     "Sorry about your clothes, girls. But at least we were 
still at your home so you could run and change."

     I was going to order something with tomato sauce, and I 
was going to find a way to drop it in that pompous idiot's 
lap.



     "So, I bet you girls are excited about going to a nice 
restaurant."

     "Oh yes, Mrs. Duke," Gina enthused. "It'll be so nice 
not to have to walk along the highway and gather roadkill 
before dinner."



     Jeff was helping Chrissie out of Dad's Pinto when we 
arrived. Chrissie had forgotten something, so they had 
stopped at a drugstore on the way.

     "Why'd you two change your clothes?" Mom asked.

     "We got covered in slush. Mr. Duke isn't used to 
driving a Lincoln."



     "Mr. Addams, so glad you could make it."

     "Evening, Juan. I believe the reservation is under 
Duke."

     "Yes, Mr. Addams, I took the call. As soon as the woman 
mentioned a new set of twins, I knew she must have been 
talking about your daughter. We have your table ready."

     Juan took us to our table, then started fussing around 
Chrissie. He made sure her chair was comfortable and asked 
if she needed an extra cushion or a small stool for her 
feet. Then the chef came out, carrying a large bassinet.

     "Mrs. Duke," the chef said. Jeff's mom started to 
answer, but he was talking to Chrissie. "If you have bottles 
for your beautiful babies, I will be happy to warm them in 
the kitchen for you." He fussed over the squirts and 
mentioned his own grandchild.

     The Dukes looked lost. Their only solace was that the 
rest of their family had not yet arrived to see them in less 
than their accustomed position of command.



     Don was piling dishes from a corner table into a 
plastic tub. The second time he glanced over, I gave him a 
little wave.

     A blond waitress walked over and started talking to 
him. She was tall and thin and moved as gracefully as MJ. 
She put her hand on Don's shoulder when she talked; and when 
Don stood up straight, she talked with her hand against his 
chest. I bet she purged herself to get that thin, and her 
hair probably came out of a bottle. And she used far too 
much perfume.
Musk, of course.

     I couldn't understand why Don didn't just push her hand 
away. Surely he wasn't dumb enough to fall for that bitch. 
And he didn't even wave back.



     Every time I saw Don, that bitch was standing near him. 
If he was cleaning a table behind her when she served, she 
bent over and wagged her bony ass at him. And the bastard 
was looking at her! How could he be even the least 
interested in something so obvious?
She probably had diseases they hadn't even named yet.



     "Rickie, would you hold little Regina for a minute? I 
have to use the ladies' room."

     "Sure, Chrissie. Come here, Bug."

     "But that's..."

     "I've got Slurp," Gina told her.



     "Oh, Bug, you are too cute. Hey, Mom, he's really got a 
grip on my finger now."

     Bug held tight to my finger and made cute little 
gurgling sounds. So I made little sounds back to him.
I don't care what anyone says, that was not just gas.
I know a smile when I see it.

     There was a crash of falling dishes. I looked up and 
saw Don staring at me with a silly, lopsided smile. That 
slut waitress had dropped a tray and was telling Don to help 
her clean up, but Don just kept staring. I gave him a little 
wave, and he waved back.
The slut said something, and Don started to help her.
But he didn't look happy. He must have said something to 
her, because she got mad and stormed back to the kitchen.

     I helped Bug wave to Don, and Don grinned. Then he came 
to himself and got back to work.

     "Thanks, Bug," I whispered. "Guess we showed that 
bitch."



     The half moon was blue against the snow. I stood on the 
deck and watched a thin cloud move fast and cold across the 
moon, then stared at the cold northern stars.

     "You okay, Rickie?"

     "Yeah, Gina. Just thinking."

     "You left footprints right across the deck."

     "I guess."

     "What's wrong?"

     "Gina, do you think all this is my fault?"

     "You mean your fight with Don?"

     "Not just that. Everything. Maybe I caused this, you 
know? If I had just stayed the way I was, maybe none of this 
would have happened."

     "You don't know that."

     "But maybe it's like the old bastard says. You make a 
decision, and one set of possibilities becomes real and 
another becomes unreal. You change the world.
Maybe I didn't decide the right thing. Maybe if I made a 
different choice, none of this would have happened and 
everything'd be okay."

     "Me, too?"

     "I don't mean that. You're one of the right things that 
happened. But if I didn't... You know. If I didn't, then 
maybe none of the bad stuff would've happened. Everybody 
would be happy 'cause they wouldn't know about all this. 
Don'd be happy. He'd even have a real girl. All those 
people'd still be alive. Mom and Dad wouldn't be so worried 
all the time. You wouldn't have to do all this. Things'd be 
just... just normal and nice."

     "Maybe."

     Gina leaned against the rail with me and watched the 
stars.

     "You wouldn't be my sister, Rickie. And maybe Buck 
would still be getting beaten by his dad. And Mom and Dad 
might not have gotten married. And you wouldn't know Don or 
MJ or Terri or anybody. You'd still be sitting in your old 
room and reading and hoping things'd be different. And maybe 
it'd be Buck that's dead. Or Don, or Terri. Maybe things'd 
be a lot worse."

     "You don't know that."

     "No. And neither do you, Rickie."

     If you watch long enough, you can see Draco spin slowly 
around the pole.



10: As Their Hands, Their Hearts



     "So what're you gonna do, Rickie?"

     "I'm calling Don as soon as we get home."

     "It's about time."



     "So, Rickie. You gonna teach me that mashe thing you 
guys are always talking about?"

     "Not on Barney's tables. He'd kill us."



     "I want to check the resale shops before we go to that 
pool hall," Dana said.

     "Sure. You guys mind meeting us at Barney's? We need to 
look for something."

     "Need company? I hate clothes shopping."

     "Not this time, Derek. This is a secret."

     "Hmm. Wonder what it could be." Derek was grinning, so 
we had to push him on his way. Dana grabbed his hand and 
dragged him after her.

     "Come on, love. Maybe I can find you a decent shirt."



     "I don't know, Gina. Think he'd like a book?"

     "Maybe we can find something in a foreign language. You 
know he'd like something strange in something nobody else 
can read."



     The shelves were jammed with books. Forgotten 
bestsellers from before I was born, histories of famous 
naval battles no one remembered, ethnographies of tribes 
that no longer existed. There was a rolling ladder along the 
shelves of one wall. The other aisles had rickety wooden 
step ladders so customers could reach the top shelves. 
Between the shelves were stacks of books, bags of books, 
piles of boxes of books.

     The low afternoon sun struggled to get through the 
dirty window but still cast long, yellow beams deep into the 
shop. Dust danced in the sunlight and lay thick on 
everything. In the back rooms it puffed into the air around 
us with each step.

     The owner might have been older than Dad. It was hard 
to tell. He had a pointed beard, well-trimmed but a dirty 
yellow shot with grey. His fringe of hair was the same 
color. His skin looked like old paper, yellow and brittle. 
He wore a dull-brown sweater and new jeans, and his eyes 
looked like tired fish behind his thick, round glasses. But 
his hands were long and thin and as graceful as birds.

     I was searching through the shelves in a back room 
while Gina pulled books from the boxes on the floor.

     "How about this one?" she asked. "_A Graphic Apology 
for Symmetry and Implicitness_. It looks like a math book." 
She started reading the book and quoting parts out loud. 
"Gee, I thought it was real old. It's just a geometric 
language for problems in complexity theory."

     "We oughta get that one for Sparks. His birthday's 
coming up, too. How much is it?"

     Gina checked inside the back cover, where the owner had 
penciled his prices.

     "It's just a buck. He charges more than that for those 
Jackie Collins paperbacks, whoever she is."

     "Great. What else is in there?"

     Gina and I started searching through the boxes.
In one of them I found a huge old book with thick, brown 
pages and a black cover that might have been leather. There 
was no writing on the cover, just an indentation of an old 
double-sided ax. It looked as if there might have been gilt 
in that indent at one time, but there were only a few specks 
left. I opened it at random, and it looked as if the book 
had been written by hand. It was in a foreign language, and 
I couldn't understand the words, partly because the letters 
were so fancy it was hard to tell what they were. But as I 
turned the pages, I came to a picture that made me stop.

     "Gina, come here. Look at this."

     "God, Rickie. Is that what I think it is?"

     It was a drawing of about a dozen small creatures 
playing among the rocks. They were wearing dark robes with 
sleeves and hoods. And their teeth jutted out of their furry 
snouts.

     "How much is it?"

     "It doesn't have a price in it."

     "What's it called?"

     I turned to the first page. It took us a few minutes to 
decipher the letters.

     "Regnator intra Montis. Introspicio Refectorium Regius 
Montanus. What does that mean?"

     "Something about mountains, I think. I think it's 
Latin."

     "We gotta get this. Derek'll love it."

     The owner scowled when we put the two books on his 
counter. And he got a sly look when we asked him the price 
of the black book.

     "It's pretty old," he said. "Probably one of a kind. 
Worth a lot of money."

     "That's okay," Gina said. "It was just an idea."

     "Tell you what. Let you have it for five dollars."

     "Okay," I said a bit too hastily.

     "But I can't break up the set. You gotta buy the rest 
of them, too."

     "Rest of them?"

     "Sure. There's seven more volumes. They're all in that 
box back there."

     Gina paid him while I tried to drag the box to the 
front of the store. It took both of us to lift the box onto 
the counter. The owner checked to make sure I hadn't stuck 
one of those Jackie Collins books in with the set.



     "How we gonna get this back home?" Gina panted as we 
struggled to haul the box to Barney's.

     "That's easy. We get Derek to carry it."

     "Rickie! What if he looks inside?"

     "So we tell him not to. If he says he won't, he won't."

     "Great," Gina gasped as we set the box down and caught 
our breath. "So how do we get it to Barney's?"



     I'd love to know where Willie found these guys.
The current fish was tall and thin. He had a face like a 
hatchet and dark-brown eyes, and his black hair was combed 
slick straight back from his forehead. His jacket was made 
of nice cloth, but his shirt was a bright-green polyester. 
And his black loafers had two-inch heels and came to points 
at the toe. On his right hand he had three big diamond 
rings, one on his pinkie.

     I sat on a stool next to our box and watched as he 
chalked his cue. He looked like he was trying to drill a 
hole into the chalk. And he smirked as Gina and he set up 
for the lag.

     Twenty minutes later, he was trying to sell Barney a 
ring so he could play again.

     Barney took a jeweler's loupe from under his counter 
and examined the big diamond beneath a lamp.

     "A hundred bucks."

     "A hundred? It's worth ten times that much. Look at the 
fire in that stone."

     "That's not fire. That's a flaw. A big one."

     The thin man tried another ring, the smallest one. 
After a minute, Barney said, "That's better. Six hundred." 
And Barney handed him a blank bill of sale.

     "Okay. But this time I play the other one."

     I had no idea what to do with the ring. It was too big 
for any of my fingers. Besides, it was a big, clunky, man's 
ring. Barney suggested it might make a nice present for 
someone special.

     "Maybe to make up with that nice boy, heh?"

     Wasn't there anyone who wasn't privy to my love life?



     "But you can't look inside, okay?"

     "Hey, if I'm gonna carry it..."

     "Derek! You gotta promise."

     "Okay." And he tucked the box beneath an arm and walked 
back to the school with us.



     "So, are you going to call Don?" Mom asked.

     "Gina!"

     "I didn't tell. Really."

     "She didn't have to, Rickie. I saw you last night. You 
don't exactly have a poker face, you know."



     "Mom, can I go for a ride with Don?"

     "It's a school night, Rickie."

     "I know. We won't be long."

     "Be back in time for dinner. I'll call your parents, 
Don, and let them know you're eating with us tonight."



     We drove for about ten minutes before Don found a place 
to park. It wasn't easy, because most of the regular places 
hadn't been plowed. He finally just stopped on the side of 
the road.

     "Don, I'm sorry for treating you so bad Tuesday night."

     "So you gonna apologize in front of a hundred people?"

     "No!"

     "How come you won't but I have to."

     "Because."

     "Because why?"

     "'Cause I said so. You want to make up, or do you want 
to make a scene?"

     Don wanted to make up.



     "So who was that bleach blonde who was all over you 
last night?"

     "You mean Pan? She wasn't all over me."

     "Don, I saw her. She was practically wearing a big sign 
saying, 'Take me'."

     "You think so?"

     "Don't you dare!"

     "Don't worry."

     "So who is she?"

     "She just started there last night. Her name's Pantera 
something. I don't know. Lambert, I think. I guess she's 
nice enough. But there's something about her... I don't 
know. I don't like her."

     "Good."

     "Don't worry."



     "Don, I'm sorry for fighting with you all the time. I 
don't want to fight anymore. Okay?"

     "Yeah. I don't want to fight, either. I guess it's my 
fault."

     "No, it's me. I've just been... I guess I've been kinda 
scared, you know?"

     "You? What are you scared of?"

     "I don't know. Just us and all. You know."

     "Yeah, well, I guess I've been kinda scared a little, 
too."

     "You? What do you have to be scared of?"

     "Well, you, Rickie. A little, I guess."

     "Me? How can you be scared of me?"

     "Well, sometimes... You can be pretty scary sometimes, 
you know?"

     "Oh, Don! Please, please don't be scared of me!
Please?"




11: As True as Touch



     Don was feeling embarrassed and wanted to let go of my 
hand when we walked in the door, but I wouldn't let him. I 
wasn't going to let him go ever again. At least, not till 
Mom put me to work.



     "So, Don, it's been a while."

     "Yes, Mr. A."

     "So which of you two came to their senses first?"

     "Da-ad!"

     "I guess that means it was you, huh, Don?"

     "Daaaad!"



     "This one's Bug, and this is Slurp."

     "Wow, they're so tiny."

     "Yeah. Chrissie says twins usually are smaller than 
other babies."

     "How do you tell them apart?"

     "It's easy, silly. Bug's a boy, and Slurp's a girl."



     "What?"

     "It's just, I don't know. You look so neat holding 
him."


     "You wanna try?"

     "No. I mean, I don't know how or anything. I might hurt 
him."

     "It's easy. Just make sure you support his head."

     "What if I drop him?"

     "You won't drop him. Here, come on."



     "What? Am I holding him wrong?"

     "No. It's just that you look so neat holding him."



     Bug let us put him back in his bassinet. He didn't cry. 
He didn't even fuss while I showed Don how sorry I was for 
everything. Bug was a pretty neat kid.



     "So when are we going to see each other?"

     "I guess just Sundays for a couple of weeks."

     "A couple of weeks?"

     "Juan says he wants to change my hours. He's gonna give 
me Saturday lunches. But he's gotta wait till the end of the 
month. Then I might start working Mondays, too, instead of 
Fridays."

     "Great!"

     "It means less money, Rickie. Saturday's the best 
night."

     "I don't care about that. Really. I was being a stupid 
bitch."

     "Can I quote you?"

     "How much trouble do you want to be in?"



     "I wish you didn't have to go home."

     "Yeah. Me, too.

     "But I won't see you for three whole days!"

     "I... I love you, Rickie."

     "Oh, Don!"



     "So, things okay again?"

     "I think so, Mom. But I'm, I don't know. I'm still 
kinda worried."

     "About what, dear?"

     "I don't know. I... I'm scared it's all happening 
again. There's something wrong. But I don't know what it 
is."



     "Your mom tells me you're feeling worried about 
something."

     "We don't know what it is, Dad," Gina started to 
explain. "It started when Rickie and Don had their last 
fight. But there's nothing at school or anywhere."

     "Have you met anyone new?"

     "No one like that," I answered.

     "Anything about the babies?"

     "The babies?! No! They're great."

     "No, I meant anything around them."

     Gina and I thought about it, but it was nothing like 
that.

     "We can't figure it, Dad," I explained. "There doesn't 
seem to be any reason. But MJ's been scared, too."

     "And Nancy said something last Sunday when we were 
watching the eagles," Gina said. "And I think Terri and Dana 
are worried, too."

     "How about the boys. Have they said anything?"

     "No," Gina answered. "But they might not anyway, you 
know?"

     "Curiouser and curiouser," Dad mused. "Well, just keep 
your eyes out for now. I'll call Keiko and see what she 
thinks."



     Gina and I were about to go to bed when there was a 
knock at the door.

     "Kieran! What's going on?"

     "Mom says we're camping out here for a while."

     "How come?"

     "I don't know. Your aunt called her. Help me with this 
suitcase, will you? I thought I'd break my back getting it 
here."

     "Ga, Kieran. What do you have in here, rocks?"

     "Not exactly."

     The suitcase gave a very heavy clunk when we set it on 
the floor.

     "Uh, Kieran? Do I want to know what's in there?"

     "I don't think so, Rickie."



     Kieran's mom came in a few seconds later, carrying a 
suitcase that looked as if it might have clothes in it.

     "Kieran. I thought I told you to take that right to the 
babies' room."

     "I'll get it," Dad called out, then almost fell when he 
tried to lift the bag.

     "Yeow! How many you got in here?"

     "Just four," Mrs. McGreal answered.

     "Four? It feels like a lot more than four."

     "Well, there's also the ammo."



     "Gina, how come having the McGreals on guard doesn't 
make me feel any safer."

     "I don't know, Rickie. Maybe the squirts aren't what we 
should be worried about."

     "So it's us again."

     "I don't think so. I mean, if it was us, we'd know 
something. Wouldn't we?"

     "We didn't know last time."

     "But we could have. I mean, if we knew then what we 
know now, we would've known, wouldn't we?"

     "I don't even know if I know what you just said.
But I think so."

     "So maybe it's nothing. Maybe we're just being 
paranoid."

     "God, I hope so."



     "Rickie, we have to talk."

     "Sure, Chrissie. Want some pancakes?"

     "Just put them down for now. Let's go to the stone 
room."



     "Rickie, why are Kieran and her mom here?"

     "I don't know. They just showed up last night."

     "Rickie, don't bullshit me. Kieran was outside my door 
all night. And her mom was out back. What the hell's going 
on?"

     "I really don't know. We just told the p's that we were 
worried about something, but we didn't know what. Dad said 
he'd call Aunt Keiko, and she must've called the rest."

     "Is something after my babies? Is one of those animals 
around?"

     "No. I don't think so. And it's not Gina and me, 
either. We don't know what it is."

     "Ask that Derek kid as soon as you see him. And call me 
from school, Rickie. I want to know as soon as you find out 
anything. I am not going to let one of those goddamn animals 
get anywhere close to my kids.
You understand?"

     "Sure, Chrissie. I'll ask him as soon as I see him."



     "So what are you kids doing tonight?" Dad asked.

     "Buck's taking me out to dinner again," Gina said. 
"Then probably a movie."

     "Where you going to dinner?"

     "Not sure. He said someplace nice this time."

     "How about you, Rickie?"

     "Mmmphlg," I said as I gulped down a bite of blueberry 
pancake. "Probably just going over to MJ's.
Don's gotta work tonight."

     "Why don't you invite MJ here for the night?" Mom said.

     "I don't know." It was not what I wanted to do. I 
wanted another night alone with MJ, not a slumber party.

     "I'd really feel a lot better if you did, hon."

     "I'll see what she wants to do."



     "So you got a date tonight, Sarah?"

     "Joshua's supposed to pick me up around six. I don't 
know what we're doing."

     "Wow, a fifth date with the same guy. That's a record."

     "He really is a nice guy. Isn't he, Rickie?"

     I didn't even have to think about that one.
Joshua was the first really nice guy Sarah had met in years. 
And he really seemed to like her a lot. He was funny, 
polite, smart; and he had a great ass.

     "I don't know, Rickie. I really like him. Like, maybe 
he's the one, you know? I really don't want to screw this 
one up."

     "Maybe that's what he needs."

     Sarah laughed, then whispered, "Don't tell anyone, 
Rickie. But I think Josh is gonna get lucky tonight."

     "Ooh, I'm jealous."

     "Sure, right. You've got Don, and he's a hunk."

     "Well, I haven't had him yet, if you know what I mean."

     "Really? But I thought... Maybe that's why you two 
fight all the time."

     "Yeah. That's probably part of it, anyway."

     "Well, don't rush into it, Rickie. Don't do anything 
you're not ready for."

     "God, Sarah. I am _so_ ready!"



     "Derek, I need to talk to you."

     "Sure, Rickie. What's up?"

     "Have you had any of your feelings lately. Is anything 
wrong?"

     "No. Everything's fine. Why?"

     "Everything is _not_ fine!" Dana almost yelled.
"Something is wrong. I know it!"

     "Calm down, Dane," Derek soothed. "Nothing's wrong. It 
could've been. But it went right last night.
Everything's going to be fine."

     "_What's_ going to be fine?" Terri demanded.
"What's going on?"

     "Shh," Sparks said. "We've got it covered.

     "What?!" Gina shouted.

     "Hey, it's okay," Bryan said. "Buck saw this one 
coming. We've already taken care of it. You girls don't have 
to worry."





12: A Bodyguard of Lies



     "No, Chrissie, really. The guys are doing something, 
but they won't tell us what it is."

     "C'mon, Rickie," Terri called. "You're missing lunch."

     "Just a sec. I'm telling Chrissie what's going on."

     "Well if you know, tell me, 'cause I don't know.
And I don't like it."



     "So come on, guys. Tell me what's going on."

     "No way, Rickie. Buck said if we told you, it'd ruin 
everything."

     "So tell me," Gina said. "I won't tell."

     "Yeah, right. You don't have to tell. You two share the 
same brain."



     "I don't believe he won't tell me," Dana complained. 
"He just says, 'It's a guy thing.' Like what's that supposed 
to mean?"

     We were clustered around the mirror in the restroom. We 
weren't fixing anything, since Wolfe didn't allow makeup in 
school. We were just bitching about the guys and their 
secret.

     "Who the hell do they think we are?" Terri grumbled. "I 
could take any two of them."

     "Just because they think we can't keep a secret," Gina 
complained. "Like I'd have to tell Rickie everything."

     "Yeah, that's... Oh, shit!" And I was out the door and 
down the hall as fast as I could go. Damn, I should've 
figured it out earlier. Those bastards!



     "Bryan, you bastard! You tell me now!"

     "Rickie, it's nothing..."

     "Don't give me that shit. It's Don! I know it!
You tell me what's going on now!"

     "Rickie, don't..."

     I pushed Bryan down and ran to the phone. Don would 
still be at school, but maybe Mom could get hold of him. Or 
I could call his parents. Or...

     "Stop it, Rickie. Now," Derek's ridiculously low voice 
rumbled. I couldn't budge his arms. I tried kicking his 
legs, but he didn't seem to care. "Stop it. Calm down."

     "Why?... I can't... No... Please?" Damn, I was crying 
like a little kid.

     "Rickie, it's going to be okay. Really. I _know_ this, 
Rickie. Trust us."

     "But Don..."

     "Yes. But not anymore. I don't know what, but something 
last night changed it. It's not Don anymore.
But we're going to watch him. Just to make sure. But not 
you, Rickie. You stay home this time. Watch that niece and 
nephew of yours. Please, Rickie?"

     I couldn't. Not when Don... "Please? I can't..."

     "Not tonight, Rickie. Just trust us. Okay?"



     Dana had to help Derek to his last class. I guess my 
kicks weren't so weak after all. But it was like kicking a 
lamppost.



     "C'mon, Mom, hurry!" I said under my breath.
Maybe if I paced faster, she would get here sooner.

     "Rickie, calm down," Gina said. "I'll talk to Buck. 
Maybe he'll tell us what's going on. Besides, Derek said it 
was going to be all right. You know he doesn't lie."

     "How the hell would he know?" I spat. But I knew that 
was unfair. Derek knew, though he didn't know how the hell 
he knew. It didn't make me feel any better.

     Dana's mom was the first to arrive. Derek said goodbye 
to Dana and apologized for not seeing her tonight. But 
tomorrow was his birthday, and he was getting his license; 
so he promised to drive to her house and take her out for a 
ride.

     "Remember, Rickie," he said after Dana had left.
"Don't do anything tonight. You can do what you want 
tomorrow, but just stay home tonight."



     Dad picked us up instead of Mom. He got out of the 
Pinto and pulled Sparks and Bryan away from the car and 
started whispering to them. Gina and I tried to creep a bit 
closer so we could hear, but Dad saw us and stopped talking. 
He just pointed at the car and waited till we climbed in.

     I was getting really mad. Who the hell did they think 
they were, cutting me out of this. But I could wait until I 
got home. Mom would know what to do, and she wouldn't be any 
happier than I was about being kept in the dark. I'd be 
damned before I'd sit at home when Don was in trouble.



     Sparks' Mom was outside with the weird heat gun Sparks 
had made to clear snow from their walk. There was a cloud of 
steam around her, which froze on the branches of the bushes 
and the small tree beside the walk. The sun had come out, 
and the ice glittered. If I hadn't been so worried, I would 
have thought it was beautiful. But today it just made me 
feel cold.

     Bryan got out of the car with Sparks. He said they were 
"just hanging together" for the night.
Right. Nancy and Terri were not going to be happy with that.

     Sparks tried to take the heat gun from his mom, but she 
chased him away. As Dad was pulling away, I watched Bryan 
and Sparks load stuff into his van.

     "Dad..."

     "Not now, Rickie. Later, maybe."

     "Dad! It's not fair!"

     Dad stopped the car and turned in his seat.
"Rickie, you're going to have to learn to trust them 
sometime. I know it's hard, but..."

     "Dad! I can't just..."

     "Shh, Rickie. They have their reasons. Just sit tight 
for now."



     "But, Mom!"

     "I know, Rickie. It's very hard to just wait. But 
sometimes it's the only thing to do."

     "Damnit, Mom, it's Don! I can't just sit around."

     "Yes you can, dear. And that is just what you are going 
to do."



     "Calm down, Rickie."

     "I can't believe he left for work early!"

     "Let me call Buck."



     "Damnit, Rickie!"

     "It's not my fault, Gina."

     "I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit home and babysit you. 
How dare that asshole cancel our date. If he thinks he's 
leaving me out of it, he's got another thought coming!"

     "It's gonna be cold. What should we wear?"



     "Where do you two think you're going?"

     "We're just gonna take a walk, Dad. We'll be back in a 
little."

     "You're back now. Get inside."

     "Dad! It's not fair!"

     "I said, now!"



     "Girls, mind if I talk to you before you climb out that 
window?"

     "Oh, Aunt Keiko. We were just letting a little air into 
the room."

     "Of course you were, girls. But it's a little cold in 
here now. Why don't you shut your window and come 
downstairs."



     "Gina, what the hell's going on?"

     "I'm Rickie, Nance. And they won't tell me."

     "Yeah, well we were supposed to go out tonight, and 
that bastard calls me and says he's gotta hang with the 
guys. Who the hell they think they are?"

     "Nance, we gotta get out of here. Think you could tell 
our p's that we're going to your house for the night?"

     "No way. My parents are in freak out mode. I'm coming 
over there. Get hold of Terri. I'm gonna get MJ on the way. 
Don't sneak out till I get there."



     "Dana, what are you doing here?"

     "If that idiot thinks I'm gonna wait at home patiently, 
he's crazy. I've had it up to here with that macho 
bullshit."



     "Rickie, sit down. You're driving me crazy."

     "I can't. C'mon, Terri. You're the expert. How do we 
get out of here?"

     "First we gotta figure out what's going on."

     "Girls?"

     "Shit. It's your mom."



     Mom and Sarah brought a pile of food into our room. 
Sarah looked almost as unhappy as we did.
Instead of her hot date with Joshua, they were sitting 
around the living room with a bunch of old people. And 
anywhere you went in the house, one of those stupid regents 
was lurking in a shadow. Joshua didn't seem to mind at all. 
I guess he didn't know how close he came to getting lucky 
tonight.

     "You have to eat something, girls," Mom said. "It looks 
like you're going to have a long night."

     "Mrs. A, what's going on?"

     "Well, Mr. Addams wants to talk to you girls about 
that. When you're finished eating, he wants to talk to all 
of you in his office."

     We jumped to our feet, but Mom told us to sit and eat 
because Dad wouldn't be ready for an hour or so.
Like I was going to be able to eat.



     "But, Dad, there's something after Don!"

     "Stop to think a minute, Rickie. The rest of you, too."

     We were crowded into Dad's office. All of us were too 
nervous to sit, and the smell of Dad's Virginia tobacco had 
Gina and me so edgy we couldn't stand still.

     "If you all went running into the night, what would 
that mean?"

     "But Bryan..." Nancy started.

     "Just stop and think a minute," Dad said quietly.
"What makes you think anyone wants to get Don?"

     "Mr. A., we've done this before, you know," MJ argued. 
"I think we can handle this."

     "Yes, of course you can. But why do you think all the 
regents are here? What do you think has them worried?"

     "Oh my God!" The realization came to me suddenly.
"The squirts! It's Chrissie's kids!"

     "What?" MJ asked.

     "Don't you see? If we all go running off, then there's 
less people here. There'd be Mom and Dad, and maybe Uncle 
Amos."

     "C'mon, Rickie. There's like 20 people in the house," 
Terri said.

     "Yeah, and suppose it was like the last time. How do 
you think Aunt Keiko would do against a hundred whackos? Or 
the Judge? Or Mrs. McGreal? Or any of them?"

     "Well, Bryan's teacher'd be pretty hard," Nancy said.

     "And I don't think I'd wanna mess with the Klingon," 
Dana added, but she was beginning to see, too.

     "So there'd be five, maybe six," Gina explained.
"And it probably wouldn't be just the whackos. It'd be their 
owner, too. And maybe more than one."

     "But why would they?" Dana asked.

     "So it's not us," I asked Dad. "It never was, was it?"

     "No, Lian hua. It was always the kids. At least, one of 
them. But we don't know which one."

     "So, Dad, I think it's time you told us the rest of 
this. Don't you?"


13: A Strong Anthropic Principle



     "Don't worry, Bug. We're not gonna let anything happen 
to you."

     He gave a little gurgle, then made his filling the 
diaper sound.

     "Oh, thanks a lot. We spend our Friday night taking 
care of you, and this is how you repay me."

     Bug looked pleased with himself.



     "I think he's hungry, Rickie," MJ observed. She was 
snuggled beside me and playing with Bug's feet.

     "Nah, he's just playing."

     "So guys start that as soon as their born, huh?" Nancy 
said.

     "Looks like girls do it, too," MJ pointed at Slurp and 
Gina.

     "Ewww. That is so weird!"

     "Bet you did it when you were that little," MJ said.

     "Nah. I was a bottle baby."

     "Too bad."



     "I can't believe you're gonna grow up to be so 
important," I told Bug as I poked his belly.

     "Hey, it probably isn't him," Gina said. "It could be 
Slurp just as easy, you know."

     "Don't listen to her, Bug. She's just jealous."



     "Don?"

     "No, Mrs. V. It's Rickie. I was just trying to see if 
Don was home from work yet."

     "Oh, Rickie, are you all right?"

     "I was just wor, uh... I was just wondering about Don, 
Mrs. V. Could you let him know I called?"

     "He should have been home ten minutes ago."

     "Uh, I think the guys were gonna meet him after work or 
something."

     "What's going on, Rickie?"

     "I don't know. They said it was a guy thing. I'm sure 
it's nothing bad."

     "Rickie!"

     "Honest, Mrs. V. The guys said it was nothing."

     "Rickie, what is going on?"

     "I don't know! They wouldn't tell me anything!"



     "Sit down, you two."

     "I'm okay."

     "You're making me dizzy. Anyway, it's time to feed 
them."

     "So, Chrissie, what's that like?"

     "It's pretty weird, Gina, but a major relief.
It's pretty uncomfortable when the milk comes in. So this 
feels good. But they get pretty sore, too."

     "They sure are hungry."

     "Yeah, my little eating-crapping machines."



     "Don?"

     "Hi, Rickie. Mom said you called."

     "Are you all right?"

     "Sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

     "But... Did you see the guys?"

     "No, I just came home from work. Why?"

     "But, I thought..."

     "Rickie, what's going on? You had my mom in a panic."

     "Oh, Don, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

     "Rickie!"

     "I... Don, I... I think it's happening again."

     "Shit! Stay there. I'll be right over."

     "No, I'm fine. It's not me. I was scared it was you."

     "Me? Why me?"

     "I don't know. But you didn't see Buck or Bryan or 
anybody?"

     "No, I was at work all night."

     "Look, I want to see you tomorrow. Okay?"

     "Sure. I'll stop by when you get home from your 
workout."

     "I'm not going tomorrow. Just come over early.
Okay?"

     "Sure. I'll be there as early as I can."



     "Rickie, there's no answer at Buck's."

     "Let me try Stretch," Terri insisted.

     "I'm next," Nancy and Dana called at the same time.



     "Girls, calm down."

     "Mrs. A., where can they be?"

     "I'm sure they're fine, girls. Get some sleep.
You can call them in the morning."



     The hell they were fine. If they were fine, we'd have 
known. What we knew was they decided to do something stupid 
so they made the girls stay home.
Macho morons. Terri was swearing that she was going to break 
Sparks' butt, and Gina was frantic. Nobody else was doing 
too well, either. God, boys could be such morons.

     But we had to think of what Dad had told us, not that 
it made any sense. All this crap started long before the 
squirts were born. But nobody could tell me that they knew 
what they'd grow up to be. Heck, just thinking about me made 
that clear. I bet when I was born, nobody figured I'd be 
what I am. So it was silly to believe that anyone could 
guarantee anything about the squirts. It had to be just 
craziness.

     Mom and Chrissie weren't playing fair. Every time we 
figured how to get out of the house, Mom would pop in or 
Chrissie would ask us to hold the babies. When Dana was 
going to leave and just let them try to stop her, Slurp 
gurgled. When Slurp pulled that move, Dana was stuck. She 
couldn't put Slurp down. The squirts had that cute and 
helpless weapon, and we couldn't do a thing about it.



     "Hi, Mrs. N. Is Buck home yet?... No, this is Gina... 
No, he was hanging with the guys tonight...
I'm sure it's okay... Just let him know I called, okay?... 
Thanks a lot."



     When the phone rang, we all got to it at the same time. 
Gina and I were at a disadvantage because we were holding 
the squirts just then, so Terri got to wiggle through the 
crowd to the phone first.

     "You stupid sonofabitch. Where the hell you been?... So 
you couldn't call?" We were all clamoring to know what 
happened, but Terri kept shushing us and waving us down. 
"God, sometimes you are the dumbest sonofa... No! You get 
over here by breakfast or I'll... Yeah, well you better tell 
them to call their parents... Of course they're worried, you 
moron...
Like hell. You be here by breakfast or... I don't give a 
rat's ass... Yeah, you stupid prick. I love you, too."

     "They're okay," Terri announced after she slammed the 
phone. "The morons are all at Sparks', passed out.
I told them to be here by breakfast."

     "Thank god," Dana hissed. "When I get my hands on 
that..."

     "Girls," Mom called from the door. "Why don't you get a 
couple hours sleep before breakfast. I can take the squirts 
for now."



     "Girls. You might want to wake up. Breakfast is in an 
hour, and you did tell the boys to come over this morning."

     "Mmmphlpg."



     "Girls, aren't you going to get dressed?"

     "Coffee, Mom."

     "But the boys are all here."

     "Coffee."



     "Gee, you look cute when you've just gotten up."

     I tried to think of a place I could pour my coffee on 
him without damaging something I might want later. Don 
seemed to guess that, because he pulled away a little. I 
decided I needed coffee a little more than I needed the 
satisfaction.

     "But you didn't have to stay up all night," Buck was 
saying.

     Mom managed to catch the plate of eggs before Gina 
could push them in his lap.



     "Nice slippers."

     "And what's wrong with my slippers?"

     "Nothing. I just didn't think of you as the fuzzy bunny 
type."

     "They're warm. And I like fuzzy bunnies."

     "Sorry, I didn't mean... I really do like them."

     "You want a pair?"



     "Look guys," I said during my second cup. "This isn't 
gonna work if you start keeping secrets and try to leave us 
out of it. I don't want to go through this crap again. Next 
time, you tell us what's going on.
Understand?"

     We all looked at each of the guys until they looked 
sufficiently apologetic and agreed.

     "So did you get her?"

     "She wasn't there." Buck looked sheepish.

     "So what the hell you do all night?"

     "Well, some of the spooks were there. We chased 'em for 
a while."

     "And?"

     "Well, it didn't feel right, you know? It's like they 
weren't really trying to get away, like they wanted us to 
follow. So we stopped chasing them and went back."

     "So she's still out there."

     "Yeah."

     "Just great. Next time, you tell us before you do 
something stupid. Understand?"

     "Yes'm."

     "Did you call your mom?"

     "Oh damn. Can I borrow your phone?"



     "God, I'm a mess. And I smell like eau de diaper."

     "Boys are so stupid."

     "C'mon, Terri. Hurry up and save some hot water for the 
rest of us!"



     "So it's not you two?"

     "That's what Dad says. That's why there's all those 
people around all the time."

     "But I don't understand."

     "Yeah, I don't, either. But apparently Gina and I 
aren't the center of the universe."

     "But why you two back then?"

     "'Cause they're our sister's kids. They are _not_ going 
to get the squirts!"

     "Who would do this?"

     "It's Long," Gina gasped. "Remember, Rickie? Up on the 
roof. That asshole told his spooks that Mr.
Long would get them."

     "Damn!" Derek looked like he'd just been slapped.

     "You know him?"

     "He's a gangster."

     "So you know who he is?"

     "Nobody does. No one's ever seen him. He killed my 
father."





14: Twixt Steps and Falls



     "So you think she'll try again?"

     I gave MJ the are-you-a-moron look.

     "No. I mean try to get Don."

     "Probably not," Buck said. "But I can't figure what 
she's gonna do. All of us know about her. We'll be on the 
lookout."

     "Shit!" And Derek was away from the table and to the 
kitchen at warp speed.

     "What?" we all shouted as he pounded the phone buttons.

     "We didn't tell Jim. He was working last night."

     Derek kept shuffling from foot to foot and saying, 
"C'mon!" But Jim wasn't answering his phone.

     "Try Janice's room," Dana said. Derek didn't know the 
number, so Dana took the phone off him and dialed herself. 
"Janice! Is Jim there?... Thank god... No, listen. It's 
happening again... Yeah, the shit...
Right... Look, we're gonna send a couple of the guys to pick 
you up... No, stay there till they get you...
Right."

     "Okay," Dana said after she hung up. "Sparks, you and 
Buck go get them, and come right back."

     Gina wasn't happy. She did not want Buck going off. She 
demanded that we all go.

     "No, but I'll go, too," Derek rumbled. Dana started to 
protest, but he hushed her. "And we're not coming straight 
back. We're gonna fetch my car and stop at the DMV."

     "No," Dana ordered. "Come right back here!"

     "We can use another ride and driver," Derek said.
When Buck and Don agreed, it was a done deal. It seemed 
reasonable to me until I figured out that Don was going with 
them.



     "You be careful," I insisted, and I zipped Don's jacket 
so he'd keep warm. "You get back here in one piece, do you 
hear?"

     "Yes, _mo-ther_. I'll be fine. Nothing's going to 
happen today."

     Maybe if I hugged him a few minutes longer, they'd 
leave without him.



     "I know we've forgotten something," Gina insisted. She 
was pacing back and forth in the living room.

     "You called Barney," Dana said. "That's everybody from 
last time."

     "I know. But I can't help it. There's somebody we 
forgot to call."

     I was worried, too. So I started counting everybody 
until the answer came to me. Gina got to the phone before I 
did.

     "Caitlin, is Heather there?... Good. Get to Janice's 
room right away. She'll explain it. No, you're coming out 
here today... Just do it. I'll explain later... Okay. And do 
you have Manuel and Gordon's number?... What?... When?... 
Well, see if they're back yet. I'll call Janice and tell her 
what's going on... Right. See you soon."

     "Manuel and Gordon went somewhere last night," Gina 
explained as she dialed the phone again. "They aren't 
supposed to be back till Derek's party."

     "Does she know where they went?"

     "No, and they're not answering their phone." She hung 
up and called Janice.



     "What the heck's that?" Sarah shouted over the roar.

     "Sounds like Barney's guys," Gina shouted as she went 
to the door.

     Bikes were still arriving as Barney and Willie came 
inside.



     "Hi, Doc," Barney called to Aunt Keiko when he was 
inside.

     "Barnard! Look at you! A Harvard education, and you 
look like a bum!"

     "Harvard?"

     "Don't hold it against me, Darlin'," Barney winked. "I 
told you before, with hard work, you can overcome anythin'."



     Barney and Willie were in Dad's office. I told Rat to 
get the rest of the guys inside where it was warm, but he 
insisted they wanted to stay outside and "cool off" for a 
while. Gina and I started making coffee and hot chocolate as 
fast as we could, and the rest of the gang carried the cups 
out as soon as it was made.

     "This is just great," Gina said. "The only thing 
missing is having the old bastard show up."

     "Are you referring to me, Lian hua?"

     "Oh shi... I mean, I'm really sorry, Master Li. I 
didn't mean..."

     "That is quite all right, Lian hua," he grinned.
"I have been an old bastard since long before you were born. 
Do you have any tea?"



     "So what will you do, Lian hua?"

     "I'm sorry, Master Li," Gina said. "We can't run away 
from this one. It's not just us."

     "No, of course you cannot. I did not think that you 
would."

     "But, Master Li. You've always said..."

     "And when, Lian hua, have you always done what I have 
said?"



     "Derek, what the heck's that?" Dana shouted.

     "Well, as far as the department of motor vehicles is 
concerned, it's a 1948 Hudson."

     "What the heck's a Hudson?"

     "It's what that used to be before Derek and I rebuilt 
it," Sparks grinned.

     "Yeah?" MJ joked. "And where'd you put the laser 
cannon?"

     Derek and Sparks got a sick look on their faces.

     "Oh no!" Dana said. "What did you two do?"

     "It's not really a cannon," Sparks whimpered.



     "So when are they supposed to get back?" Janice asked 
for the third time.

     "I told you," Caitlin said. "They were going to meet us 
at Derek's party."

     Everybody was in the stone room. The gang, the circle, 
Li, Mom and Dad, Sarah and Tom, Chrissie, Barney and Willie, 
and Aunt Keiko. The rest were all over the house and 
outside, guarding against something I knew wasn't coming 
here.

     "That means some of us have to go wait at Derek's," 
Buck said.

     "You're not leaving us behind tonight," Gina warned.

     "We can't all go."

     "Why not?" I asked. "Barney, can you guys watch the 
fort tonight? That'd be enough here. So if we all went to 
Derek's, they'd probably leave us alone."

     "Sure, Darlin'. But a few of us'll go with ya, if ya 
don't mind. Just ta be on the safe side, ya know."

     "I'd really rather you guys stayed here."

     "I'll go with the kids," Tom and Sarah said at the same 
time.

     "No, Rickie's right," Buck said. "We'll be all right if 
we stay together. But the more of you who stay here, the 
better. We'll call you when we get there, and we'll call 
when Manuel and Gordon show up.
Then we'll come right back here."

     "But we oughta get to Derek's before it gets dark," Don 
added.

     Mom was not at all happy with that plan, but Master Li 
and Dad agreed that it was the best idea we'd had so far.



     "That's some statue," Barney said as we broke up the 
conference. "She looks like she's got two heads."



     "Might as well take the present with us," Gina said. 
"That way we can get the guys to load it in the car."

     We dragged it to the top of the steps and then got 
Bryan and Buck to carry it to the van. They had a little 
trouble and complained loudly.



     "Jeez! You girls look like something from a bad movie!"

     I thought we looked pretty good. We were all dressed 
like Terri. Leather jackets, black sweaters and jeans, black 
boots and gloves. We all pulled the black watch caps out of 
our jacket pockets and put on our mirror glasses.

     "Oh no!" Don laughed. "You've been hanging at Barney's 
too much." But he was looking.



     "So, did you clear it with work?" I asked Don when we 
were cuddled in the back of Sparks' van.

     "Yeah. Juan said he already had somebody to fill in for 
me. He was pretty cool about it."

     "I guess you're just his favorite busboy." Then I put 
my arms around him and squeezed tight until I felt safe.



     We decided to stop at school first. The headmaster was 
at the gate, and he told us we could drive up to the dorm. 
After our caravan was inside, he shut the gate again. The 
dormies ran inside to check Manuel and Gordon's room, just 
in case. Then they ran out with some packages and backpacks.

     When we left, the headmaster opened and shut the gates.



     "Thank god you're here. What have you been doing?" 
Derek's mom was in a high tizzy. "You know you have to have 
everything set up by eight."

     "Eight? I thought it was midnight."

     "No. It's when you were born. You were born at 8:00 
p.m."

     "God, Mom, can't we postpone it? Something's going on. 
It's not a good time."

     "Of course not, honey. These things are always 
dangerous. Here." And Derek's tiny, willowy mom pulled the 
biggest revolver I'd ever seen out of her dress and handed 
it to Derek. "Your father used this on his 16th birthday. I 
thought you should have it."

     "God, Derek. What kind of parties you throw?" Jim 
asked.

     "I'm sorry, guys. I thought I had to do this later. 
After everyone went home."

     "Do what?"

     "It's just kind of a birthday tradition in my family 
when we turn 16. I, well, you'll see."

     "Great. Like we didn't have enough trouble."



     Gina called Mom and Dad to let them know we got to 
Derek's safely, and I helped Janice and Jim cook the food. 
Mrs. J. had everything ready, so all we had to do was cook. 
It was nothing really fancy, though there was a lot of it. 
And we had extra French fries and a chocolate cake for 
Derek. That boy lived on French fries and chocolate.

     We put the food in the oven, then joined the rest of 
the guys in Derek's rec room, which was as weird as Sparks' 
workshop but in a different way. The floors and walls were 
covered in thick, colorful rugs. And tonight he had big, 
overstuffed, embroidered, wingback chairs around the room. 
There were two on a rug-covered platform in the back of the 
room under a chandelier, then chairs up either side. We 
didn't bother with the chairs. We just sat in a circle in 
the center on the rugs.

     "Do you think we should call again?" Derek asked.

     "They'll be here, love," Dana answered. "Let's just do 
presents while we wait."

     Bryan gave his to Derek first. It was, of course, a 
painting, and just as strange as all his others.
This one had Derek and Dana in a cave surrounded by torches. 
If it wasn't for the setting and the robes he had them in, 
it would of looked like one of those portraits of married 
couples in the 19th century.

     Sparks gave Derek the night binoculars, which strapped 
to his head and looked like something from a comic book. 
Buck gave him a real nice chess set made of onyx, and Don 
gave him a book of poetry that he made himself.

     Caitlin and Heather gave him a flower arrangement. This 
one was just two yellow roses in a tall, white, square 
container. It looked simple, but I knew it wasn't.

     "Sofu's ninth arrangement," Derek said and stared at 
the flowers. Caitlin and Heather were thrilled that he 
recognized it.

     Before Terri and Gina and I could give him our 
presents, Derek's mom shouted that some more of his friends 
had arrived. We dashed to the front door and threw ourselves 
on Manuel and Gordon.

     "Wow! Guess we were missed," Gordon smiled. "Hope you 
still like us after you see our present."

     They pulled a large sack in from outside, shut the 
door, then reached in and pulled out a beautiful leopard 
skin.

     "We have to finish tanning it, but we wanted you to see 
it tonight," Gordon said proudly.

     "What? Where did you get this?" Derek asked slowly.

     "Last night she came to us," Manuel said, "with a this 
and a that. She think she so pretty. But Manuel know a 
jaguar bruja when he see her, no?"




15: The Sum of Our Parts



     "How?... What happened?"

     "We were at a gas station and I was waiting for Manny 
to take a whiz. She came up to me like a hooker and wanted 
me to go off with her," Gordon said.

     "She tell him she know him," Manuel explained.
"She say Bryan tell her to see him. We know Bryan not do 
that."

     "She tried to rub my crotch. You know? So Manny pushed 
her away. She got mad and tried to claw him."

     "She not know my little sister," Manny smiled.

     "Little sister?" Don asked. I guess we never told him 
about that.

     "Si, my little sister," Manuel said. Then he took her 
out of his back pocket. Manuel's little sister was a silver 
figure of a naked woman with her hands on her head. She was 
about eight inches long, and not very pretty.

     "How could that do anything?" Don asked.

     Manuel touched one of the breasts with his little 
finger, and the seven-inch stiletto shot out of the figure's 
feet.

     "Oh."



     "Okay, now we can get back to the fort."

     "Uh, Gina, I have to stay here for a couple more 
hours," Derek said. "We'll come by later. She's dead, so 
it'll be safe."

     "Her spooks aren't," Buck pointed out. "And we don't 
know what else is around. The fort'll be safer."

     "No. Dana and I have to be here at eight. It's 
important."

     "So I guess we all wait," I said. "Gina, call the p's 
and tell them what's going on."

     "I... I don't know if you guys should be here," Derek 
said. "It's kinda, well, it can be kinda touchy if it 
doesn't go right."

     "In that case we are definitely staying," Gina 
insisted. "There's no way we're gonna leave you alone if 
something bad can happen."

     "So let's finish the presents and eat," Terri said. 
"C'mon! It's a birthday party!"



     Terri's present was in Sparks' van. We all went outside 
while she fetched it. It was pretty big, about three feet 
long and almost as wide; and it must have been heavy, 
because Terri could hardly carry it. But she wouldn't let 
Sparks help her.

     When Terri had it out of the van, some cats started 
fighting down the block. They were snarling and screaming 
really loudly, and their fight echoed between the buildings. 
It sounded like real cats, but it made us nervous anyway.

     While we were at the van, Gina and I talked Don and 
Buck into carrying our present inside. Guys are pretty 
useful for stuff like that.

     Back in the rec room, Terri put her present down 
carefully.

     "Do we really want to see this?" MJ laughed. "If 
anybody asks, I'll say I was with Rickie at my house.
You guys get your own alibis."

     "Bryan already helped me with it," Terri said.

     "Bryan?" Nancy asked accusingly.

     "I know nozzink. I see nozzink."

     We sat on the floor as Derek unwrapped it. Terri was 
one of those people who use a whole roll of paper and two 
rolls of tape to wrap anything, so it took him some time to 
get through all the wrapping. When he was done, he was 
surrounded by paper with the present at his feet.

     Terri's present was a big ax with two blades. The 
handle was wrapped with wire, and there was a boar's head 
for a pommel. It looked pretty old and really vicious.

     "It's just like the one I told you about," Derek said, 
"the one my family used to own."

     "It is the one your family used to own," Terri said 
proudly.

     "But it can't be. That one's in a museum. I just saw 
it's picture in the paper today. It's part of that show."

     "Nah, the museum has one from a catalogue. It's a real 
good copy, but it's not real. Bryan helped me make it look 
old."

     Bryan was looking at the ceiling while Nancy poked him. 
The rest of us knew not to ask any more.
When Terri gave you a present, it always was best to know as 
little as possible. Plausible deniability.

     Derek didn't care. He stood up, then grabbed the handle 
of the ax. He picked it up as if it didn't weigh anything, 
then hefted it a couple of times.

     "This is really it," he said quietly. He put the ax 
down and grabbed Terri, then gave her a hug that looked like 
it was about to pop her head off.

     Dana managed to extricate Terri before her spine 
cracked, and Derek went back to playing with the ax.

     "This was stolen from my family in World War II," Derek 
stopped to explain. He ran his hands over the blades while 
he talked. "We thought the Nazis had stolen it, or maybe the 
Communists after. We tried to find it for years. We didn't 
know if it still existed until I saw it in that ad for the 
museum."

     One thing about Terri, when she stole you a present, 
she always got something you liked.



     Gina and I were a little embarrassed about our present. 
After how Derek reacted to Terri's, we figured that a bunch 
of old books would be pretty boring. So we pushed Nancy and 
MJ to give theirs first.

     Nancy, as everyone knew she would, gave Derek a stack 
of CDs. She played every instrument and sang all the 
harmonies herself, mixing all the tracks so that it sounded 
like a single band was playing. We all had stuff by her, and 
people were always asking for copies.

     "I knew you liked this stuff," she explained, "so I 
tried to find things you might not have. There's some 
Josquin des Pres and Orlandus Lassus. But most of it's my 
favorite of the bunch, Hildegard von Bingen."

     Derek took one of the CDs and ran to the back of the 
room, behind the platform. There was a small stereo back 
there, and he plugged in the CD. It was not the kind of 
music I'd normally listen to, but it sounded really nice. 
When it soared, I decided to ask Nancy to burn me a copy.

     Derek was thrilled. He stood in front of the speakers 
with a happy look on his face and didn't make a sound until 
the first track was finished.

     "Nancy, that is gorgeous. Thank you very much." Then he 
turned it down just a little so we could talk, but he kept 
listening.

     MJ's present was a robe with a hood and piece of 
knotted rope for a belt. The robe was black wool on the 
outside and red silk inside.

     "My mom helped me make it," MJ said, "and Dana helped 
with the size. I hope it fits."

     Derek tried on the robe, and he looked like a monk. He 
must have liked it, because he kept it on, just pushing the 
hood back.

     Our present was last, and Gina and I were feeling a bit 
bad that we couldn't find anything better than some old, 
cheap books.

     "Well, this is too heavy for a sweater," Derek said as 
he pulled our present closer. Everybody laughed, I guess 
because they all had gotten sweaters from us for birthdays 
and Christmas. I really wished we could make neat stuff like 
everyone else.

     Derek pulled the wrapping from the box and opened it. 
Then he just stared. It seemed like forever before he pulled 
out the first book; and he opened it slowly, like he was 
afraid it was going to crumble away. Gina and I held our 
breaths, hoping he liked it and that it wasn't just some 
stupid book about something he hated.
But Derek didn't say anything. He just sat still, looking at 
the book.

     "I hope it's okay," Gina said. "We didn't know what it 
was about, but it looked kinda..." Then she stopped, because 
Derek was crying.

     "We're sorry," I apologized. "We didn't mean..."

     Derek wasn't listening. He put the first book down and 
carefully pulled the second from the box. He caressed the 
cover, opened it carefully, then placed it on the floor to 
get the third, and the fourth.

     "You kids should eat something before it gets too 
late," Mrs. Jajich sang as she carried a big tray into the 
rec room. When she got closer to us, she dropped the tray.

     "Oh my gods," she whispered. "Doruk's Book!" Her eyes 
moved a bit till she was looking at the ax. "And Doruk's 
Vengeance!" Then she fainted.



     "Mom! Mom!" Derek was holding his mom and shaking her 
as lightly as he could.

     "Oh, Derek, I'm sorry. I thought I saw..."

     "You did. They're real! They're really here!"

     "But, how?"



     Dana managed to get Derek to stop squeezing Gina and me 
before we passed out. But I was seeing little black spots 
dancing before my eyes before I could catch my breath again.

     Nancy and MJ had managed to save most of the food, and 
Buck had the carpet clean before I was breathing well enough 
to talk. That boy must've carried a scrub brush with him 
wherever he went.

     "I guess you like it," Gina said about our present. "We 
couldn't tell what it was. We just bought it because you 
like old books and languages and stuff.
We think it's Latin."

     "Bad Latin," Derek explained. "It was written by an 
ancestor of mine. He didn't know Latin very well, but he 
wrote in it anyway."

     "Wow. What's it about?"

     "Everything he could think of," Derek said. "They say 
he was getting ready for a big war, and his son was just a 
baby. So he wrote down everything he thought his son should 
know. When he was killed, his servants smuggled his son 
away. But somehow the book was lost. We thought it was lost 
forever."



     "Okay, guys, you have to be really cool. Just sit where 
I tell you, and don't say a word. No matter how weird it 
looks or what happens, just sit real still and try to look 
like you're bored."

     "What's going on?"

     "I can't explain right now. Just promise me you'll do 
what I say, okay?"

     We promised, and Derek told us where to sit. Jim, 
Janice, Caitlin, Heather, Gordon, and Manuel had to sit in 
the chairs against one wall; and Don, Buck, Bryan, Nancy, 
MJ, Sparks, and Terri had to sit against the other wall. He 
put two chairs against the back wall on either side of the 
door, then made Gina and I sit in those.

     "Remember," he said, "Don't move or make a sound unless 
I tell you."

     Then he placed our presents on the platform, where Dana 
and he sat. He placed the books on one side of his chair and 
put the ax on the other side. He sat with one hand on the 
books and the other on the ax.
Nancy's CDs were on the stereo.

     When everything was ready to his satisfaction, his 
mother opened the door. And they came in.

     They were the "kids" that Gina and I had seen almost 
three years before. Their hoods were up, but their snouts 
stuck far out of them, their tusks almost glowing in the 
light. They came two by two, slow and silent. There were 
only 16 of them, but they made it seem like a lot more.

     When they got to the platform, they spread into two 
rows in front of Derek and Dana. They didn't say anything; 
they just pushed back their hoods and looked at Derek. Their 
heads and faces were covered in dark fur, and their pointed 
ears faced forward. They looked a lot like the boar on 
Derek's ax, but there wasn't any suggestion of pig about 
them.

     I glanced quickly at the others. I could see a hint of 
shock pass across their faces, but they quickly got over 
that. I had to remember that they hadn't seen these things 
before, so of course they were surprised.

     Two of them were on the platform. They reached into 
their robes and pulled out iron circles, then placed them on 
Derek's and Dana's heads. Then they stepped down, reached 
into their robes again, and each threw a gold coin onto the 
platform. I could see the coins shine from the other end of 
the room. Then, one by one, the others threw a coin onto the 
platform.
They didn't seem to care where they threw them, and the 
coins rolled everywhere, two even rolling back to Gina and 
me.

     They pulled their hoods back up, turned around, and 
started walking out. They nodded slightly to the others as 
they passed, but never made a sound.

     I thought they were going to just walk out the door, 
but they didn't. When they got to our end of the room, they 
stopped dead, as if they had just noticed that Gina and I 
were in the room. They stood there, perfectly still, for 
what seemed the longest time. But they didn't seem angry. In 
fact, they seemed pretty friendly. Gina and I couldn't help 
but smile.

     That's when they tore off their robes and threw 
themselves onto the floor.

16: Character and Destiny



     "What was that all about?"

     "Well, for one thing," Dana giggled, "I think Derek and 
I just got married!"

     I was going to laugh, but I suspected she wasn't 
kidding.

     "So do we all get to kiss the bride?" Jim asked, just 
before Janice wrestled him to the carpets.

     "Really?" I asked, and Dana nodded her head with a 
smile that touched her ears. "Why didn't you tell us?"

     "Well, we weren't sure what would happen, you know? 
Sometimes they decide against the girl.
Sometimes they decide against both. They didn't like Derek's 
dad, you know."

     "They didn't like my grandfather, either," Derek added. 
"I didn't think this was gonna happen. That's why Mom gave 
me Dad's gun."

     "So how come they liked you?" Bryan asked. Nancy 
started to yell at him until she saw he was serious.

     "Well, partly the book, I think," Derek answered 
slowly. "And, I think, maybe the twins, too."

     "So it's not such a good thing, is it?"

     "Bryan!" Nancy scolded, but the look on Derek's face 
made her next words gurgle in her throat.

     "Who are they?" Buck asked.

     "The war chiefs."



     "C'mon!" Terri shouted. "It's a party! Stop looking 
like someone ran over your dog." She ran behind the platform 
and started searching through Derek's CDs. "Hey, Derek, 
don't you have anything we can dance to?"

     Terri broke through our gloom pretty quickly, even 
though she couldn't find any music that didn't look like it 
was old when the crusades started. Pretty soon we were 
congratulating Dana and Derek and dancing around the room to 
something Shakespeare probably thought was hot.

     "Guys!" I shouted. "We gotta get back to the fort."

     "Maybe we should stay here tonight," Dana mumbled from 
under Derek's robe.

     "Not tonight," Buck ordered. "This isn't done just 
'cause Derek got a leopard-skin rug. We gotta stay together 
until it's safe."

     Derek wasn't happy about it, but he agreed.

     "Maybe we should take that stuff with us, if it's so 
important," Bryan suggested. "And maybe Mrs. J.
oughta come, too."

     "It'll be okay tonight," Derek said. "The house'll be 
pretty safe. Mom'll be okay. But Buck's right. It's not the 
stuff we should be worried about."



     Derek's mom was all over Dana with kisses and hugs and 
tears. Then all the women went with Dana to get her stuff 
before we left.

     "God, Dana. That's so, so... purple!"

     "You're gonna bounce right outta that!"

     "That's the idea."



     "So, Dana, what're your parents gonna say when you tell 
them you're married?" Terri decided to be a spoilsport.

     "Well, it's really more like a betrothal, you know? 
We're gonna have to be married again to make it legal."

     "Is that what you're gonna tell them when you two move 
in together?"

     "No, I'll tell them it was a goblin marriage.
They believe in that kinda stuff. I'll just say, 'Mom, Dad, 
yeah, we had rings. They just weren't on our fingers.' What 
do you think they'll say?"

     "Uh, before or after they shoot?"

     "The question is which one they shoot first. If they 
shoot the goon, here, we got a chance. As long as the shot 
doesn't make him too mad."

     "So it'd have to be somewhere it won't hurt.
Maybe his head," Terri suggested as if Derek wasn't there.

     "I don't know. I kinda like his head."

     Derek already was blushing. And we hadn't even started 
yet.

     "So if it was a choice between that and his head, which 
would you be willing to lose first?" Gina asked.



     Dark shapes were moving in shadows all over the 
neighborhood when we climbed into the cars. Every now and 
then, a tusk would gleam in a streetlight.



     There were six of us in the Hudson, and we could have 
fit in another five without being crowded.
Janice, Terri, Gina, and I decided to ride with Derek and 
Dana as sort of bridesmaids after the fact. If she thought 
she was gonna pull off a betrothal without us getting 
involved, she had another thought coming.

Besides, Derek's color was getting hilarious. The rest 
crammed into the van and Gordon's little Toyota.



     "So what was that bit those things did in front of the 
twins?" Terri asked. "That some kind of fertility dance or 
something?"

     "No, that was, uh, something else."

     "C'mon, what was it?"

     "They were, uh, saying a kinda, uh, traditional poem. 
It means they, uh, they thought you were, uh, pretty 
impressive."

     "Okay, Derek," Gina got accusatory. "What did it really 
mean? Just translate the grunting."

     "Uh, it's just something they say every now and then. 
It's nothing, really."

     "Derek!"

     "Okay. It goes, 'When we meet birth, we lie naked. When 
we meet death, the cold blows through our bones. In an hour 
of honor, we see the eyes of the end and beginning.' I told 
you it didn't really mean anything."

     "So do they say this to every girl they see or 
something?"

     "Well, uh, not exactly."

     "Derek!"

     "Okay, okay. I never heard them say it before.
I'm not sure what it means. And I thought it was real weird, 
too. I've only read about that stuff."

     "What stuff, Derek?"

     "Well, I was, uh, just looking in that book. He, Doruk, 
was writing about his choosing. That's the 16th birthday, 
hour of your birth thing. Anyway, he had his friends with 
him, and there were these two brothers, twins. I guess maybe 
it's something they say to twins."

     "Uh huh. And what happened to these twins, Derek?"

     "I only read that one part, Rickie. Honest. His Latin's 
pretty bad."



     "Oh shit! What're my parents doing here?"

     "Calm down, Dana," Gina said. "Just follow the first 
rule of talking to parents."

     "Yeah, what's that?"

     "Lie. And when you're caught, lie harder."



     I almost laughed out loud when her mom called Dana 
"young lady." I could think of a half-dozen things to call 
her, but that wasn't one of them.

     Her mom was in one of her high panics. She'd shout a 
few things, then her tongue tangled around itself and ended 
in a splutter. She caught her breath, then tried again, 
ending in another splutter.

     Dana's father was funnier. He tried to look like he was 
supporting his wife, but he kept glancing at the ceiling, 
floor, and anywhere else he could hide his embarrassment. 
When Dana's mom hit one of her splutters, he tried to calm 
her; but then she launched into him for a few incoherent 
minutes before turning her attack back to her daughter. In 
ten minutes, neither of them said a word that anyone else 
could understand.

     Her mom almost calmed for a minute; but then about 
eight of Barney's guys tramped through the living room on 
their way for more coffee, and she went off at twice the 
speed. Mom tried to hustle us out of the living room and 
move Dana and her parents to the stone room, but Dana's mom 
apparently couldn't move and yell at the same time. Finally 
her dad grabbed his wife's arm and almost dragged her out of 
the living room.

     Fortunately, Derek had the good sense to keep a low 
profile, at least, as low a profile as one can keep when 
looking like Derek. I had a feeling it was not a good time 
to tell her mom about a goblin marriage.



     "Sorry, kids," Barney whispered when Dana and her 
parents were safely in the stone room. "I think that was our 
fault."

     "It's not you, Barney," Gina said. "Her mom's always 
been a little excitable."

     "Maybe, Darlin'. But when she jumped from her car and 
ran to the door, my boys didn't know who she was.
I'm afraid she didn't take too good to being thrown on her 
back and havin' a shotgun stuck in her nose."

     "Oh, god. You didn't!"



     Dana's father came out of the stone room and shut the 
door carefully behind him. He put his finger to his lips as 
he walked through the living room, then went out to his car. 
When he came back in, he was carrying Dana's bow case.

     "Come on, you're in this, too," he said to the chair 
where Derek was being invisible. "And for god's sake, if you 
can't lie, keep your mouth shut."



     "Wow, her mom is really freaked."

     "Yeah. But you can't blame her," Janice said.
"She was all set for Billy to go off and do wild stuff. 
Except, you know, Billy's an idiot. Dana was going to be her 
sweet little princess."

     "Oh god," Terri laughed.
"I-can-scare-the-paint-off-a-truck Dana as the sweet little 
princess? Is she blind?"

     "Hey, she's a mom. Moms get like that. You should see 
all the frilly stuff she buys her. It's like she sees her as 
a life-size Madame Alexander doll."

     "Maybe if you crossed Madame Alexander with Conan the 
Barbarian."



     They were in the stone room for at least two hours. 
When they finally did come out, Dana's mom was still crying. 
But she was hugging Dana and Derek. Her dad thanked my 
parents, said goodbye, and gave Derek a handshake. Then he 
gave his daughter a big, sloppy hug before pushing his wife 
out the door.

     "God, I don't want to do that ever again," Dana sighed 
as she plopped in a chair.

     "Pretty bad, huh?"

     "Yeah, well, Dad had her pretty calm till she started 
to grill Derek. All he had to do was act dumb.
But, nooo. I've got to have a lunk who can't lie."

     Derek sat on the floor beside Dana's chair, so she slid 
onto his lap.



     "Mom, why don't you go to bed?"

     "I will, honey. Just let's get everybody settled, 
okay?"

     "We'll take care of it. We're not really tired yet, 
anyway."

     "I think I better do this, Gina."

     "Mom, don't worry. We'll make the guys sleep with Tom. 
Nothing'll happen."

     Except for Dana and Derek, I thought. We already 
decided they were getting the guest room. But no need to 
tell Mom about that.





17: The Struggles of Ice



     I woke up curled around MJ. That was nice, so I 
snuggled in tighter and fell back asleep.



     "Jeeez! Hari Krishna!" I was out of the shower in a 
second.

     "I guess your dad's gonna need a bigger water heater, 
huh?"

     "If you didn't take so long in the shower!"

     "Hey, it was cold when I got in. 'Sides, I bet Don 
likes that look."

     I wrapped a towel around "that look" and tried to find 
some clean underwear.



     "Great, you girls are up. We need a lot of help with 
breakfast. Gina, go down to the freezer and get as much 
bacon as you can. Rickie, start making toast.
Mary Jo, you and Terri set the table."

     "We got some goodies for ya," Willie said from the 
kitchen door. He and Rat had their arms filled with grocery 
bags.

     "Oh, you two are saints," Mom exclaimed. It probably 
was the first time anybody ever called them saints.



     "Buck and Manuel are doing the laundry, Mom," Gina said 
with an armload of bacon.

     "I know, dear. They were up before anyone this 
morning."

     "I wish some of that'd rub off on Bryan," Nancy 
complained. "You should see his room. It's a pigsty.
You gotta spend ten minutes pushing paint-stained clothes 
off his bed before you can even lie down."

     Mom raised an eyebrow, and Nancy started to stammer.

     "I mean... It's not... I was just..."

     "Mmm hmmm," Mom said, and handed Nancy cans of frozen 
orange juice.



     "I can't believe I said that in front of your mom!" 
Nancy whispered while we were putting food on the table.

     "Don't worry about it," Gina said. "She's not a prude 
or anything."

     "Yeah, but..."

     "If she wants a lily-white virgin, we can always show 
her Rickie."

     "Hey!"

     "Really, Rickie? But I thought..."

     "It's not _my_ fault!"



     "No! A restroom?"

     "Don't forget to tell her about under the deck."

     "Thanks, MJ. You're such a help."

     "But, why don't you just go to his house when his 
parents are out?"

     "'Cause they're always there, except when we're all 
here."

     "God, that's such a bummer. I'd go, like, crazy."

     "Tell me about it."



     Mom was feeding everybody in shifts. Barney's guys went 
first, partly because they brought a ton of food and partly 
because they were up all night. Then the rest of the adults 
got to eat. Finally, it was the kids. Chrissie and Jeff ate 
with us because they got up late, having been up most of the 
night with the squirts.

     "Let us hold them. You two eat."

     "Thanks, Rickie. We're okay."

     "You say that now. But what happens when Jeff drops 
that egg on Slurp."

     "But this is..." Then Jeff stopped and pulled on 
Slurp's diaper to check. "God, I can't even tell my own kids 
apart."

     Gina took Slurp before Jeff dribbled his coffee on her, 
and I took Bug. We were full anyway, having nibbled while we 
were helping to cook. Besides, I was beginning to get angry 
at Don for not having a place of his own or for not being an 
orphan. Which, I knew, was totally unfair. But I couldn't 
help it. But playing with Bug made me feel better. Besides, 
I liked the funny looks Don gave me when I was holding the 
squirt.



     "That's pretty impressive, Manuel. They're not easy to 
kill."

     "It not hard, Mr. Addams. At home we have many.
The mescalito brujos, they much worse. This one very 
stupid."

     "Still, I'm impressed." We were crowded into Dad's 
office again. But this time he was puffing contentedly on a 
huge Italian pipe, and the smell of latakia was dreamy. It 
also was nice that we were scrunched in pretty tightly, with 
Don behind me and MJ in front of me. I bet if I wiggled just 
a little...



     Barney's guys went home to sleep. They would be back 
later. Dad had decided to have a barbecue, and they promised 
to bring a few kegs. Dad said he wanted to celebrate, though 
he also warned us to keep our eyes open. But with the bruja, 
as Manny called her, now just a rug, things would be a lot 
safer.

     We were back in the living room when Dana and Derek 
came downstairs. We had forgotten about them, though I don't 
know how, since they had been pretty noisy all night.

     "So how is married life?" Bryan asked, after first 
making sure that my mom wasn't around. That set the two of 
them off again. We decided we better get them something to 
eat before they disappeared upstairs again.

     As we were pushing them to the kitchen, Sarah peeked 
down the stairs. "Rickie, is Mom around?"

     "No, I think she's in Chrissie's room."

     "Great!" She pulled Joshua down the stairs behind her.



     If I thought Dana and Derek were bad, Sarah and Joshua 
were so moony it was almost sickening. They kept feeding 
each other and even wiped each other's mouth after every 
bite. I didn't want to see it and thought they should keep 
it to themselves. Damn, but I wished Don and I could be like 
that.

     "Sarah," I hissed after Joshua left for a few minutes. 
"With the p's around?"

     "If they didn't hear those friends of yours, they 
weren't gonna hear us."

     "I can't believe you did that."

     "Actually, it was kinda fun. Like being your age 
again."

     "Yeah, right. You're sick, sister dear. Real sick."

     "Don't knock it till you've tried it."

     Yeah, right. The way I was going, I'd be the world's 
oldest virgin.



     "So are we gonna do something this afternoon?" Bryan 
asked.

     "I gotta get home sometime," Buck said. "I got a few 
chores I wanna do. I'll see you guys at the barbecue."

     "How's your dad gonna have a barbecue in the snow?" 
Gordon asked.

     Bryan started laughing, which set off Gina and me. MJ 
finally had to answer.

     "When Mr. A. decides to build a fire, nothing as 
insignificant as a blizzard's gonna stop him. Their dad's a 
serious party animal. Neither snow, nor sleet, nor 
thermonuclear war will stop him from lighting a really big 
fire."

     "Wish we could come. Jan and I are supposed to work 
tonight."

     "So call up and tell them what you're doing. I bet 
they'll give you a night off."



     Don's parents came over before lunch was done.
Mrs. V. was carrying about eight platters and bowls of food. 
Don's dad had his cooler. I guess since it had been like two 
weeks since Dad's last party, the Villanelles were having 
withdrawals and had to get an early start.

     Everybody had something to do that afternoon, so it 
looked like Gina and I were gonna be stuck in the kitchen 
till the party started. Derek and Dana wanted to go to his 
house to check on things, as if we didn't know what that 
meant. Janice and Jim had to put in a couple of hours of 
prep work in the dorm kitchen; but they were getting off at 
4:00, and Derek was going to give them a ride. Buck was 
going home to scrub toilets or whatever it was he did for 
fun at home, and Bryan had to help his dad before the 
barbecue. Even MJ and Nancy had stuff to do. Since no one 
had been home all weekend, they all had to put in a couple 
of hours of part-time slave labor. Except Don, but that was 
because his parents were at our house.

     The kitchen was extra crowded, with Mom and Mrs.
V., Cheryl, Sarah and Chrissie, Aunt Keiko, Kieran, and Gina 
and me. Plus Dad, Mr. V., Tom, and Jeff kept coming in to 
pick at the food and get in the way. When Don came in to 
pick at the salad, Mom had enough.

     "Rickie, why don't you take Don somewhere for the next 
couple of hours. Go for a ride or something."

     "Sure, Mom." Like she had to twist my arm.

     "While you're out, hon," Mrs. V. said, "could you stop 
at home and pick up the fish? I left it in the fridge."

     "Sure, Mom," Don said; and we were out the door before 
anyone could say anything else.



     "So where you wanna go?" Don asked as we pulled out of 
our drive.

     "I don't care, as long as I don't have to look at food 
or another kitchen utensil till we get back."

     "We could go to my house for a couple hours."

     "Sure. That'd be nice."



     God, I couldn't get anything worth listening to on the 
car radio. And there was nothing in Don's CD case that I 
wanted to plug in. I tried something, didn't like it, and 
pulled it out again. After the fifth album, Don told me not 
to worry, we didn't need music because it wasn't that long a 
ride. Which meant I had to find something else to do with my 
hands.

     I tried staring out the window. There was a house with 
a red sled in the front yard, one with an old man shoveling 
the walk, and a third with nothing interesting at all. There 
were a lot of trees, some bushes, the grey sky. Okay, I 
thought, and tried looking at Don while he drove. That 
wasn't a great idea. It wasn't that I didn't like looking at 
Don. I mean, I did. He was always so serious when he was 
driving. When he wasn't shifting gears, he kept both hands 
on the wheel; and he had nice hands. They were kinda rough, 
with a lot of calluses, I guess because his dad felt that 
shoveling was good exercise for a boy, snow in winter and 
gardens and ditches in the summer. His hands were wide, with 
thick, strong fingers; and I liked them a lot. But I 
couldn't just stare at his hands all the time. And when I 
looked at his face, it was even worse. His eyes were just so 
deep and intense; and even though the day was real grey, 
they shone. I felt like I was falling into them.
When he glanced over at me, I had to look away, back at the 
houses and bushes and trees. And I had no idea what to do 
with my hands.

     The car stopped suddenly. When I looked up, I realized 
we were there. Don's house. I wondered briefly if Don would 
mind if I just stayed in the car and waited for him to get 
the fish for his mom. They might be worried, I thought; 
maybe they'd be happy that we got back early. I'd just 
mention it and see if Don agreed. But he had my door open 
and was helping me out of the car.

     I watched carefully as he slid his key into the front 
door lock. When it turned, my stomach flipped upside down. 
I'm gonna be sick, I thought; maybe I should just stand 
outside so I won't mess up the carpet, let the cold air 
clear my head. But he was looking at me, waiting; and his 
hand was on the small of my back, guiding me through the 
door.

     I was cold standing in his hall, shivering so hard I 
wanted to wrap my coat tight and bury my head and hands in 
it until my teeth stopped rattling. But Don helped me take 
it off and hung it by the door. I wanted to grab it back and 
go home, running all the way if I had to. But Don told me to 
sit down, and I did.





18: A Sweet Disorder



     "You want some hot chocolate or something?" Don asked.

     "Yeah. That'd be great. Let me get it."

     "Nope. I promised no kitchens till we get back to your 
house."

     But I liked kitchens. They're warm and cozy and safe.



     I didn't know what to do with myself. A few hours ago I 
thought I would jump at the chance to be alone with Don, but 
now I could hardly speak above a squeak.
I knew I'd have to do something. If I didn't, I'd lose him. 
He'd go off and find someone who wasn't some scared little 
virgin. I had to keep him somehow. But maybe it could be 
some other time, next week maybe, though I remembered it 
couldn't be then, or maybe even the week after. We could 
wait till Valentine's Day, maybe; that'd be romantic.

     Don came back with two steaming mugs and sat beside me 
on his sofa.

     "It's kinda nice, isn't it? Being alone together, I 
mean."

     "Mmm hmm," I mumbled. I kept looking at the door and 
windows. Maybe his mom would come home unexpectedly. Maybe 
she forgot something more than the fish and would decide to 
just get it herself.

     Don put his arm around me and pulled me closer. I was 
shaking so hard I spilled half the hot chocolate in my lap.

     "Ow! God, I'm so sorry. Look at your couch!"

     "You okay?"

     "It really burns."

     "Get the pants off and run some cold water on it."

     I started to laugh. I think I was getting hysterical. 
It really was burning my legs, and all I could do was laugh.

     "No, I meant... Use the bathroom."

     "Oh, yeah." I tried to run upstairs holding the legs of 
my jeans away from my thighs.



     My thighs were scalded. If I wasn't careful, they'd 
blister. And my underwear was soaked. I ran some cold water 
in Don's bath and sat down, trying to soak up enough to make 
the pain go away.

     "You all right, Rickie?"

     "Yeah, I'm okay. I'll be out in a minute."

     I started to cry, making sure that Don couldn't hear 
me. I had wanted it to be romantic, and that wasn't going to 
happen. And then I just wanted it to be somewhere, and now 
that wasn't going to happen, either. I couldn't believe I 
had been such an idiot.
We finally had a chance, someplace to be, and his parents 
weren't home, and I have to burn myself and make a mess of 
my clothes and now he was going to leave me and find 
somebody else. I couldn't believe this. I was so scared, and 
I wasn't going to be able to do this, and I had ruined 
everything.

     There was no way Don could still love me. He should go 
find someone better, some real girl who could do what he 
needed. I wasn't anything. This whole thing, the last three 
years, was just a bad dream. I even got him in trouble. 
Because of me, he could be hurt or killed. It was all my 
fault. But when it came time for me to do something for him, 
I couldn't do it.
I knew that spilling the hot chocolate was just my 
subconscious keeping me from giving something to Don.
I'd been a bitch and I hurt him and now I was doing it again 
and he'd leave me and find someone else who wasn't afraid 
all the time and who...

     I wrapped my arms around my knees and put my head down 
and cried.



     My face was a mess. I washed it in the sink and stared 
into the mirror. Red eyes stared back at me from beneath 
tangled hair. Even my nose looked red from crying. I was 
hideous. I couldn't go out looking like this. Maybe I could 
just stay in his bathroom forever.

     My jeans and panties were soaked and stained with 
chocolate. I tried washing them in the sink, but I think 
that just set the chocolate stain. I was going to have to 
use stain remover and wash them before the stain set even 
further. Just one more thing to make today a total disaster.

     "Don, can I borrow your washing machine?"



     The towel was an adequate skirt, but it looked really 
stupid with my sweater and boots. For one thing, it was 
pink, and pink always made me look like I needed a 
transfusion. And my sweater was green, which clashed so 
badly I looked like a clown. But I didn't have a lot of 
choice. I had to wash my clothes before I dried them, and I 
had to dry them before I put them on. And all the towels in 
this bathroom were a sickly shade of pink. So much for 
anything romantic.
I looked like a total geek.

     "Oh, Don, we have to clean your couch."

     "I got it while you were in the bathroom. It wasn't too 
bad. I think you caught most of it with your lap."

     "I can't believe I did that. I am such a klutz."

     "Don't worry about it. It's not the first thing we've 
spilled on it."

     "But I do. Did it leave a stain?"

     "Rickie, it's fine."



     Don's laundry room was right next to the kitchen, which 
was a lot more convenient than having to go to the basement. 
The stain remover was on a shelf above the washer, and I 
smeared it heavily on my clothes. I probably should have let 
it sit for a while, but I decided it would be best if I got 
everything cleaned as quickly as possible. I stuffed my 
jeans and panties in the washer, threw in a little soap, and 
set the dial for a small load.

     I looked for a safety pin or something to keep my towel 
on. It was long enough that tucking it should have been 
fine, but it kept coming loose. That was just one more thing 
to make me look like a clown.

     With the washer running, I went back to the living room 
to look for Don.

     "Where'd you go?"

     "I'm up here, Rickie."

     Oh god, what do I do now? I stood at the base of the 
stairs, trying to decide if I should go up. I think I wanted 
to, but I couldn't make my foot rise to the first step. It 
went only so high, then my toe bumped against the riser and 
I put my foot back on the floor. I got paranoid again and 
started staring at the door. I looked out the window to make 
sure no one was coming. What would Don's mother think if she 
suddenly came in and saw me standing there without any 
pants.

     "Come on up, Rickie."

     "Uh, okay."

     I held tightly to the railing and stepped carefully. 
The staircase was so long and so high, and it seemed to get 
longer with every step.

     "You okay?" Don was beside me.

     "Yeah, sure. I'm fine," I croaked.

     "Wanna smoke a doob?"

     "Yeah, sure."

     "Okay. But we gotta do it in my room or my parents will 
smell it when they get home. Dad'll accuse me of swiping 
his."

     That made me laugh a little, though it sounded more 
like a gurgle.



     Don opened his bedroom door, and I wanted to run.
His hand was on my back, and I thought of grabbing the door 
frame and screaming. But I was already inside.

     It was amazing. There were candles everywhere.
There must have been a hundred of them. They were on his 
dresser and desk. There were candles on his bookshelves and 
on top of his computer. They were set in plates on the floor 
and on the windowsill. All of them were lit. He must have 
been lighting them when I was in the bath and washing my 
jeans. The room smelled of vanilla and strawberry and wax.

     I hadn't been in his room before, and I was impressed. 
There were bookshelves everywhere there was room for one. 
His dresser had bookshelves on top of it, and the headboard 
of his bed had bookshelves with a sliding wooden door. I 
pulled out a thin book; it was poetry by some guy I'd never 
heard of. I looked through the shelves, and a lot of the 
books were poetry or books about poetry. But there also were 
novels and plays, a lot of them by people I had never heard 
of.

     On one wall, where any other guy probably would have 
had a poster of some bimbo, Don had put a painting that 
Bryan had done of me. It was one I hadn't seen before. Bryan 
probably did it from one of those photos he was always 
taking. It looked like it was from last summer. I was 
wearing my broomstick skirt and a peasant blouse. My feet 
were bare, and I was picking a bud from the rosebush Gina 
and I had planted in the back yard. The yellow bud seemed to 
reflect the colors of my hair and the skirt. I was standing 
on my toes and leaning over the bush, and the hair hid half 
of my face.

     I turned to Don, who had an embarrassed smile on his 
face.

     "I think that's my favorite of all the ones Bryan's 
done," he said. "It doesn't have all that weird stuff he 
likes to put in, like dragons and caves and stuff."

     "Yeah, he does get carried away sometimes. Like that 
one he did of Dana with all the huge tree trunks.
When did he do this?"

     "I'm not sure. I saw it in a stack of paintings in his 
room last fall and talked him out of it. I don't know. I 
really like it."

     "Yeah. I like it, too. It's, I don't know, a lot more 
peaceful than what Bryan usually does. It's kinda sweet."

     "Would you like it?"

     I looked at Don. It was obvious that he didn't want to 
give away the painting. He was asking just to be nice.

     "I think I like it just where it is."



     I looked around a bit more. Since it was my first time 
in Don's room, I wanted to be as nosy as I could.
I walked over to his desk and looked at his computer.
It was an old one, and it didn't look like it was hooked to 
anything but a small printer. Beside the printer was a small 
stack of papers; and when I looked at the top one, I saw my 
name. I went to read it, but Don tried to snatch it away. I 
was quicker.

     "No, Rickie. It's not done."

     "It looks pretty done."

     "C'mon, Rickie. You're not supposed to see that."

     "Then why'd you leave it on your desk? Besides, it has 
my name on it."

     "I didn't think you'd... you know."

     "Don, I like your poems. Let me read it? Please?"

     "Just don't laugh. Okay?"

     It was called just "Rickie."



		She has this habit
		of slipping into laughter
		as if she hasn't laughed
		in a long time and
		isn't sure how cold it'll be.
		But once in up to her waist,
		she'll dive into one wave
		and under the next,
		coming up with a clam
		or an oyster or a 
		piece of seaweed
		or something, swearing
		that she'll never
		come out of laughter again.



     "Oh, Don!" I laughed and hugged him as hard as I could. 
I felt the towel come loose and fall around my ankles, and 
hugged him harder.


19: Till the Stars Come Down



     I ruined everything. He hated it; I knew he did.
I was so tense, and it hurt. And I didn't do it right, so he 
rushed through it to get it over with. I couldn't even move. 
It was like I was looking at it from somewhere else, 
somewhere about five feet outside my body. It was awful. 
He'd hate me and leave, and I couldn't blame him. Now he'd 
go and find...

     "I love you, Rickie."

     I curled into his arms and cried.



     "Don, I gotta move my laundry."

     "Give it a few more minutes."

     "No. I'll just put it in the dryer and be right back."

     I borrowed his robe and ran downstairs. I almost 
tripped over the hem on the way. His robe could've wrapped 
around me three times, and it trailed on the floor behind 
me. God, was that going to be a problem?
Maybe he was just too big for me. Lord, I was bleeding and 
my bag was in the living room.



     "You really like that?"

     "Oh, god yes."

     "How come?"

     "You don't like it?"

     "No, I do; it's great. But why do guys like them so 
much?"

     "I don't know. Maybe 'cause we don't have 'em."

     "You got little ones. How 'bout I play with yours?"

     "Yeah? And how 'bout I do this?"

     "Ohmigod!"



     "No, we've gotta go. We're late."

     "Just a little longer. They won't miss us."

     "Don, if we don't show up soon, you know your mom'll 
come looking for us. I _really_ don't wanna deal with that."

     "But you smell so nice."

     "Oh God, no. Don, no. I... No! We've really gotta go."

     "Spoilsport."



     "Oh no, your sheets!"

     "Don't worry. I'll get them later."

     "No. Your mom'll see them. We gotta wash them."

     "We don't have time, Rickie."

     "We'll just stick them in the washer."

     "And what'll my mom think when she finds them in the 
washer?"

     "Oh god. What're we gonna do?"

     "Calm down, Rickie! I'll just put new ones on the bed 
when I get home and hide these in the closet.
She'll never know."

     "Let's do it now, or you'll forget."

     "C'mon, Rickie. I told you I'd do it later."

     "Promise?"

     "Promise."



     I hated bucket seats. I couldn't even scrunch against 
Don. I tried, but he couldn't shift gears when I did. 
Besides, he was always so serious when he drove. It was 
awful.



     "Don! The fish!"

     "Oh shit!"



     "Hi, Mom. Sorry we're late. We were almost home when we 
realized we forgot to get the fish."

     "That's okay, dear. There's plenty of time. Why don't 
you take a shower before the barbecue starts."

     Oh god, she knew! She could smell Don all over me.



     "Better wash your hair, too," Gina said as she handed 
the shampoo over the shower door.

     "Oh god, Gina, is it that obvious?"

     "Only if you're within a couple hundred yards of you."

     "I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

     "Don't worry about it. I did the same thing.
You're just gonna get The Talk again after everyone leaves."

     "God, how could I be so stupid!"

     "So how was it?"



     "Hi, Don. Miss me?"

     "What took you so long?"

     I could smell me all over him. I loved it.



     The clouds broke in the southwest just as Dad and Mr. 
Villanelle lit the grills. I was trying to show Don how to 
walk across the snow without leaving tracks, but he just 
wasn't getting it. Maybe he was just too big. Don left 
tracks behind him all the way around the side of the house.

     "I can't do it, Rickie."

     "That's okay. At least I'll always know where you are." 
Then I wrapped myself around him and stuck my hands in his 
back pockets. He had such a nice ass, and it was mine. It 
really was all mine. It was wonderful.

     He put his hands on my butt and pulled me closer.
But it wasn't close enough. I wanted to get even closer, 
skin against skin, and even closer than that.
As close as we'd been that afternoon. And I didn't care 
where anymore, and I wanted everyone to know. He was mine, 
all mine.

     Whistles and catcalls. Oh god, it was Willie and the 
guys, carrying kegs on their shoulders.

     "Don't stop on our account," Willie laughed.

     Don tensed and started to get mad.

     "Cool it," Rat warned. "We're on your side."

     I hugged Don a little harder and could feel the 
tenseness flow away.

     "But you had better treat her right," Rat said slowly, 
"or there ain't no place you can run."

     "I intend to," Don said strongly and pulled me even 
closer. It was great.



     "I better help in the kitchen or Mom'll kill me."

     "I don't want you to go."

     "I know. I don't want to go either. But I have to."

     "So I'll help you."



     "Honey, why don't you drag him out of here before I 
beat him with a skillet."

     "I'm sorry, Mrs. A. I was just trying to..."

     "That's okay, Don. But you really are in the way here."

     "Face it, Don, cooking just isn't one of your talents," 
Buck laughed as he finished making the pita bread.

     "In fact," Janice added, "after what you did to those 
poor defenseless tomatoes, I was thinking of braining you 
myself."

     "C'mon, kiddo," I said. "We'll find the rest of the 
guys. You're not the only one who can't cook."



     Derek and Dana were somewhere in the house, but I 
didn't think they wanted to be found. Terri was busy 
learning something from Uncle Amos, which seemed to involve 
stealing the underwear off unsuspecting people who got too 
close; so we decided not to get anywhere near them. Besides, 
I wanted some more time alone with Don. So I decided to try 
again to teach him to walk on top of the snow, instead of in 
it.

     "No, really. It's easier if you run a little. Try not 
to step down, but sideways; but not too sideways."

     "Maybe I'm too heavy."

     "Just follow me and try to do what I do."

     I started to run toward the woods, and Don followed me 
laughing.

     "I really can't move like that, Rickie."

     "Just watch the feet and the arms. Half of it's in the 
arms."

     We ran as far as the woods, but I don't think he was 
watching my feet and arms.



     "Don, run back and get Gina and Terri."

     We were about ten feet into the woods, and the snow was 
mashed down.

     "I think I oughta tell your dad."

     "Just do what I tell you. And find Dana, too. We need a 
tracker, somebody who's good in the woods."

     I crouched down and looked at the crushed snow. I 
couldn't tell how many there were or when they'd been there. 
We would need Dana for that.



     "Five," Dana said. "Last night. About an hour after we 
got back."

     "Any idea who?"

     "Three men, not very big. Two women, maybe 120 or 130 
pounds. Short, too. They were standing upright beneath those 
branches."

     "Can you tell what they were doing?"

     "Just watching, I think. But they were nervous.
See how they kept moving their feet? And they rose to the 
balls of their feet a lot, too. They were here less than an 
hour, and they couldn't keep from moving."

     "Okay. You guys go back and tell everybody what we're 
doing. We're gonna follow the tracks and see where they 
went."

     "You're not going without us, Rickie," Don said 
sternly. It was nice, but it was a bad time for that.

     "Look. None of you guys can walk on the snow without 
messing everything up. We can't have tracks all over the 
woods."

     "Gina!" Buck pleaded, but she was as firm as I was.

     Derek wasn't happy about it either, but he knew we were 
right. He pulled on the guys' arms until they followed him 
back to the fort.

     "So where did they go?" Gina asked.

     "They walked backward in their own tracks," Dana said. 
"They came down on their toes and rocked onto their heels. 
See? So we just follow the tracks and see where they go."



     These creeps were fairly good in the woods, but not 
very good. They could step into their own tracks for about 
20 yards, then they turned and ran. They managed to miss 
hitting trees, fallen branches, and underbrush; but they 
left a clear trail. It ran straight through the woods to the 
highway.

     "Any idea what they were doing?" Gina asked.

     "Just spying, I think."

     "Or maybe casing," Terri added. "But if they were 
casing, they're pretty bad at it."

     "Okay. Let's make a wide turn on our way back," I 
suggested. "See if there's anything else. But let's get back 
before it's dark."



     Uncle Amos met us halfway back and gave Terri a 
quizzical look. She shook her head and moved a hand.
That was another thing I wanted to learn, how those two 
could hold a complete conversation without making a sound.





20: The Moon with Delight



     "And they didn't leave anything or take something 
away?" Dad asked in his office.

     "Nothing that we could see," Dana said.

     "I checked the area with a metal detector," Sparks 
said. "So there's nothing metal or electronic."

     "You're sure who they were."

     "Pantera Lambert's spooks," Gina answered. "It smelled 
like cat."

     "You kids mind staying another night?"



     "What are those things?"

     "Old radio tubes," Sparks said. "I bought five boxes of 
them for a buck."

     "So what are you doing?"

     "It's kind of old fashioned," he explained. "But it's 
pretty effective. The tubes are sensitive to inductance. 
Anything living that tries to get past them is gonna make 
them howl. A squirrel or something like that might set them 
off if it gets real close, but anything bigger just has to 
get near the line.
Anybody outside the fort will hear it easy."

     "That's pretty low tech," Terri observed. "All they 
need is a neoprene suit."

     Sparks just looked at her.

     "Okay, so they probably won't have neoprene suits. But 
I could get past it."

     "Look, it's all I had in the van."



     "Food's ready, kids."

     Dad didn't have to tell us twice. We were in line for 
dinner before he finished calling.



     Tom and Josh had set up the tables in the stone room, 
but they were filled by the oldsters. Barney's guys were 
sitting on the floor in the living room, except for Willie 
and Rat. Barney tried to get them to eat with the rest, but 
those two wouldn't eat until there was someone to relieve 
them outside. They claimed they just wanted to be near the 
kegs, but I don't think they had a beer since they got 
there.

     The gang was crammed around the dining room table. 
Chrissie, Jeff, and the squirts decided to eat with us. So 
did Sarah and Josh and Tom and Cheryl.
That meant that a few of us were sitting on our men's laps, 
which was fine with me.

     Dad had grilled shishkebabs with thin pieces of lamb 
and onions and peppers and lots of other good things. We 
wrapped them in the pita bread and ate them like sandwiches. 
I fed Don a bite, then wiped off a little sauce that 
dribbled from the corner of his mouth.

     "Oh, stop it, you two," Sarah scolded. But when I 
looked across the table, she was wiping a little sauce from 
Josh's mouth and grinning widely.

     "Maybe I should protect my little sisters from those 
boys," Tom joked.

     "You do and you'll be singing soprano," Cheryl warned.

     "Carry on," Tom answered as he fed Cheryl a bite of 
sandwich.



     I was stuffed, but Don ate another two sandwiches. No 
wonder he was so big. He ate enough for three of me.

     MJ was looking a little sad, so I popped a piece of 
lamb into her mouth.

     "No, Rickie. I'm not hungry."

     So I kissed her and took the lamb back. I wasn't going 
to let her feel bad on such a great evening. But I didn't 
want Don to be jealous, either, so I kissed the lamb to him. 
I thought it would work, but MJ started to cry.

     I was going to climb off Don and try to cheer her up, 
but MJ stopped me. She grabbed my hand and squeezed, then 
mouthed, "Thank you."

     "I love you," I mouthed. She started to cry again, but 
she was almost smiling.



     "We can do this, can't we?" I asked. MJ, Don, and I 
were standing on the deck, having relieved Willie and Rat.

     "I get a little jealous sometimes," Don said.
"But I think I can. But it makes me a little crazy 
sometimes."

     "Me, too," MJ mumbled. "I don't know. Sometimes I just 
wanna scream, you know?"

     "I'm sorry." I began to cry. "I know it's bad.
But I love both of you. I don't want to lose either of you."

     Now MJ was crying.

     "Shh," Don whispered, and he pulled both of us against 
him. "I'd rather have you with Mary Jo than not at all. I 
can live with it, I guess. Just... if I get a little 
weird... I don't know. Maybe I kinda love MJ, too. Not the 
same, but..."

     Now all three of us were crying.

     "Maybe... I think..." MJ was spluttering through tears. 
"What will everyone think?"

     "Everyone who?" Don said. "Our friends don't care. It's 
just us. Okay? It's what we think. And I think we're okay. A 
little weird, maybe. Maybe a lot weird. But okay."

     MJ grabbed Don's head and gave him a big, wet kiss. I 
tried to think if that made me jealous, but it didn't. I 
just wanted them to love each other like I loved them. I 
wanted us to be together forever.

     "Uh, this could get interesting," Don said, then 
started tickling MJ.

     She squealed and danced away from him. "In your dreams, 
buddy."

     "Yeah, but what a nice dream."

     I had to step in the middle of that, which made Don and 
MJ laugh even harder. It was the best sound in the world.



     Dad, Mr. V., and Tom came running out of the house.

     "What's with those guys and fire?" Cheryl asked from 
behind me.

     "They're lighting it now? Cool!" Don said, and was off 
the deck to join the others. Buck and Sparks were out the 
door and by the woodpile right after.

     "Do they start thumping their chests now?" Gina asked.

     "Nah, first they have to grunt and fart," Terri 
answered.



     We were knocked off our feet by the explosion.
Burning logs were raining onto the deck and house.

     "Ohmigod!" Gina screamed and was up and off the deck 
just ahead of Terri and me. "Buck, are you okay?"

     "Jeeeezus," Dad gasped as he helped up Mr. V.
"Lordy, Sparks. What was in that?"

     "I don't understand," Sparks said as he put out the 
fire on his sleeve. "It shouldn't have done that.
Not unless you didn't crumble it into pieces first."

     "I was supposed to crumble it?"



     "You idiot!" Terri was yelling at Sparks. "What if 
somebody got hurt? You could have killed everybody!"

     "That was really cool!" Don said as he took a beer off 
Rat. His eyes and grin were bright in his blackened face, 
and he kept banging his ears to clear them.



     "Nah, it's easy," Sparks was explaining to Willie. "You 
need some trisodium phosphate, but you can get that at any 
hardware store."



     "Idiots!" Terri was still fuming.



     Once the guys got all the burning wood back onto the 
fire, it looked pretty good. It was one of Dad's best fires 
yet. It had lots of different colors, and the reds and blues 
seemed to wrap around each other.

     Sparks had gotten more plastique from his van, and all 
the guys were throwing small crumbs of it into the fire. MJ, 
Gina, and I decided to watch from the deck. Everybody else 
thought it was better to watch from inside.



     "Yuck, what's that?"

     "Oh no! Somebody let Mom near the stereo."



     "I don't know, Willie. I guess I'm kinda worried."

     "About all this? Or about your boyfriend and 
girlfriend?"

     Willie and I were taking our turn outside. We were 
keeping ourselves warm by the dying charcoal in the grills.

     "I guess it's kinda obvious, huh?"

     "Usually is."

     "I don't know, Willie. Am I just being selfish?
Is it wrong?"

     "You're asking the wrong guy, kid. There's not a whole 
lot I consider wrong."

     "I... It's just that, you know, everybody..."

     "Hold on, kid. You in love with everybody?"

     "Well, no, but..."

     "So who you in love with?"

     "Don and MJ. But..."

     "Look, kid. I'm not a whole lot older than you, but 
I've learned something. You don't get a whole lot of 
chances. Not even if you're a hot blonde with big tits. You 
start worrying about what other people think, you don't got 
any chances at all."

     "But..."

     "I'm not done yet. You just listen. Those everybodies 
you're worried about don't count for nothin'. They're just 
scared and pissed off. They go to a job they hate, all day 
they feel miserable. They come home, and everybody's 
miserable. It rains, they're miserable. It's too cold, 
they're miserable.
It's hot, they're miserable. Their lives are crap.
They worry that maybe they did somethin' wrong, that maybe 
somebody don't feel as miserable as them. So they all get 
together and tell each other that anybody who ain't as 
miserable as them is gonna go to hell.
But they don't believe it. So they try to make sure you're 
as miserable as them. You start worryin' about those 
everybodies, all you gonna get is a shitload of feelin' 
miserable."

     "Yeah. Maybe you're right."

     "Look, kid. You got two people who love ya. Most people 
never gonna be that lucky. Maybe it'll work, maybe not. But 
you keep worryin' about it all the time, you're gonna fuck 
it up yourself. Just enjoy it.
Be happy. Make those two know how lucky you all are.
You'll be okay."

     "Gee, Willie. You learn that at Harvard?"

     "Nah. I went to Stanford."



     Willie threw his cigarette butt into the grill and lit 
another.

     "Can I try one of those?"

     "What you wanna start smokin' for?"

     "I'm not a little kid, you know."

     "Sure. You're all grown up. But that don't answer my 
question."

     "I don't know. I guess I really like the smell of Dad's 
pipe. You know? I just wanna see if it tastes as good as it 
smells."

     "A cigarette ain't no pipe."

     "Yeah. But girls don't smoke pipes."

     "There ya go again, worryin' about everybody else."



     When some of Willie's guys came to take our place, I 
threw my half-smoked cigarette in the grill.
I would have thrown it in long before, but I didn't want to 
look like a wimp.

     Gina and Rat came from the front, and we all went in 
the back door together. When we got to the living room, Buck 
and Don were holding the squirts. They were giving the 
squirts raspberries on their tummies, and the squirts had 
their hands tangled in the guys' hair.
It was so cute.

     I kept as silent as I could so the guys wouldn't stop, 
and I sat beside MJ on the floor. Gina sat beside us, and we 
just watched the guys without saying anything. I put my arm 
around MJ's waist and pulled her closer. I really didn't 
care what everybody thought, which made me the luckiest girl 
in the world.






21: Heaven's Embroidered Cloth



     "So what's your favorite star?"

     "There, see? It's called Thuban. It's really a binary, 
but they're so close it's like they're one. It used to be 
the pole star a little less than three thousand years ago. 
Some say the Great Pyramid of Khufu was built so that Thuban 
would shine down its shaft."

     "That's pretty neat. But how come you like that better 
than the brighter ones."

     "I don't know. It's always been my wishing star."

     "So you ever get your wish?" MJ asked.

     "I think I've gotten all of them."



     "So how's your mom doing, Derek?"

     "I don't want to talk about it."

     "What's wrong?" Dana almost shrieked.

     "Nothing, but..."

     "But what?" She was even louder. "What's wrong?"

     "She wants us to hurry and, uh... She wants grandkids."

     "She what?!"



     "I'd like to talk to you two alone for a few minutes."

     "Sure, Mom. What's up?"

     She gave me the stare.

     "Uh, I already heard this one," Gina tried.

     "So you can hear it again."



     "We're gonna take a run through the woods."

     "I'll go with you."

     "No, Don. Not till you learn how."



     When we crossed Sparks' line, those old tubes howled. 
But when Terri hurried to catch up with us, she ran through 
the line without a sound.

     Even under the trees, there was enough moonlight to see 
clearly. It reflected off the snow, giving an eerie blue 
glow to our faces. By the end of the week, the moon would be 
full, which, though it had some personal disadvantages, 
would make a run through the woods a lot of fun.

     "Okay, start talking," Terri said when we had gotten 
about 200 yards under the trees.

     "I don't know..."

     "Hey, you're not getting back till we have a full 
report."



     "That's so romantic. How come Stretch couldn't think of 
something like that."

     "Probably because it would have set his van on fire."

     "Ga, can you imagine that? Probably would take out a 
city block."

     "Talk about seeing fireworks."



     "So that's normal?"

     "Sure. It gets a lot better."



     "I don't know. I think I still like his hands best."

     "I like the eyes."

     "Gee, Terri, how often do you get to see Sparks' eyes? 
You'd have to stand on a chair or something."

     "Yeah. But he's worth the climb."



     "So we make another run before school. If there's still 
nothing, then we might be safe for a while."

     "How do you know they won't come back tomorrow night?"

     "I've been thinking about that," Gina answered.
"I think they'd be happy to get away. Now that the bitch 
cat's dead, I bet they just wander off and try to be normal 
again."

     "Why would anyone do that? I mean, who'd sell their 
soul just to be a spook?"

     "She probably lied to them. You know, promised she'd 
give them what they really wanted. But once they're hers, 
they don't get anything."

     "There are a lot of people who'd probably do that," I 
said. "A lot of people who want something really, really 
bad. Something they think they can't ever get. Didn't you 
ever want anything bad enough you said you'd sell your soul 
if you could have it?" I didn't have to see Dana and Terri 
nod their heads to know they both had something like that. 
"So they meet this creature, and she promises she can give 
it to them. And they want whatever it is so bad, they don't 
stop and think that it won't be any good if they don't have 
the rest of their life, too."

     "Yeah, well, I don't feel sorry for them."

     "I do, kinda," I tried to explain. "I mean, it's so 
sad. They're just people who're really hurting. And one of 
those things comes along and takes advantage of that. Those 
things prey on people's misery. The spooks are just 
victims."

     "So you gonna feel sorry for them if they come after 
your niece and nephew?"

     "Yeah, I am. I'm still gonna stop them. But I don't 
have to feel good about it."



     The guys were waiting for us when we got back.
That was so sweet.



     "So how you getting to school in the morning?"

     "Tom's gonna give me a ride."

     "I wish you didn't have to go."

     "I wish I didn't, too. I've got a test in the morning I 
didn't study for."

     "Don! You've gotta get good grades. I want you in 
college with me, you know."

     "Yes, mo-ther."

     "If you think I'm your mother, you've got real 
problems, love. Like, totally Freudian."

     "I've got real problems, all right. I'm in love with a 
kook."

     "Mmm. Say that again."

     "What, you're a kook?"

     "No, you moron."

     "I love you, Rickie."

     "Yeah. That's the one."



     "And no sneaking around tonight, girls."

     "Mo-om!"

     "That's all right. Just remember, I'll be watching."



     "Terri, my mom said she'd be watching to make sure we 
didn't fool around."

     "So? I'm not fooling around. I'm serious about this. 
Besides, I can get past your mom easy."

     "Yeah, but can Sparks get past her?"

     "He can't even walk across a room without sounding like 
a herd of elephants."



     "Back so soon?"

     "That idiot walked right into your mom. He told her he 
had to use the bathroom, and she was still there when he 
came out."



     "So tell us everything."

     "Let's just get some sleep."

     "No way, Rickie. Come on."




     "God, that must've been so embarrassing."

     "Yeah, and it really burned. I locked myself in the 
bathroom and just cried."

     "I know just how you felt," Dana said. "I hit my head 
on Derek's headboard and cut my scalp. There was blood 
everywhere, and I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. I locked 
myself in his bathroom, too. Derek yelled through the door 
to see if I was all right, but I couldn't answer him. 
Finally he had to break the door in. He made me lie down 
with some ice in a towel, and he fussed for like an hour. It 
turned out kinda nice."

     "Mine's the worst," Janice said. "His roommate came in 
while we were doing it, and I screamed. About a dozen guys 
ran in the room to see what was going on, and I kept 
screaming. We're, like, totally naked on his bed, and 
there's all these guys trying to find out why I'm screaming, 
you know?"



     "Oh, that's so romantic."

     "It really was. And there was a poem about me on his 
desk, too. It was really sweet."

     "I wish Stretch wrote poetry. His idea of romantic is 
to have a two-foot robot dinosaur poke my leg."

     "No one's worse than Buck."

     "Come on, Gina. He cooks you dinners and takes you to 
dances."

     "Yeah, but it's like everything's planned to the 
second. Dinner at oh-six-hundred, dessert at oh-six-thirty. 
Dance finished at oh-nine-hundred, and in his room at ten-
hundred. If I take 20 seconds too long over dessert, it 
throws his whole strategy off."



     "And then, like, two weeks later, he says he doesn't 
wanna see me anymore."

     "He's an ass, Caitlin."

     "It was that bitch Faith. She'd been working him behind 
my back. I went to his room, you know, to give him back his 
stuff. And she's in there. God, I don't know what he sees in 
her. She's done half the guys in the school. She oughta wear 
knee pads all the time, you know?"

     "You're better off without him."

     "Yeah, I know. But..."



     "So what, do they think that's cool? Some girl's gonna 
be impressed that they shout something obscene as they drive 
by?"

     "What jerks."

     "Yeah, well, I was like 12 and some guy did that," 
Heather said. "Then the kid who was driving stopped the car 
and made the jerk get out and apologize. I was pretty 
scared. But the guy driving was really nice. After the jerk 
apologized, he made him walk. And he stayed there until he 
was sure that I'd be safe."

     "So did you see him again?"

     "It turned out he was the older brother of a girl in my 
class. I had the biggest crush on him for the longest time. 
I kept finagling dinners at their house, but he was hardly 
ever there. And even when he was, he barely noticed me."

     "That's too bad."

     "Not really. I saw him over Christmas, and he's totally 
bald now. He looks really weird. I have no idea what I saw 
in him."



     "Close the window, Rickie. It's cold in here."

     "Just a second."

     "So what are you looking at?" Gina asked.

     "Just the stars."

     "Stars are up there, Rickie. That direction is Tom's 
window."

     "Think he's thinking about me?"

     "He's probably asleep. It's late. Come to bed."

     "Okay."

     I pulled in my head and started to shut the window, but 
I heard a sound. Tom's window went up slowly, and Don's face 
shone in the moonlight. He stared at the stars for a few 
minutes, then glanced at my window. When he saw me, he 
smiled. I gave him a little wave, and he blew me a kiss. 
Then he looked back in the room. I guess someone told him to 
shut the window, too. He blew me another kiss and went back 
inside.


22: Looking for a King



     I was up long before the other girls. I showered, then 
dried my hair in the bathroom so I wouldn't wake anyone. I 
spent some extra time in front of my mirror, trying to 
decide what to do with my hair. Finally I just braided it, 
but I braided a thin blue ribbon in with it. I dressed 
quickly, but then changed my sweater to a thick, blue cable-
knit. It wasn't my nicest sweater, but it was my favorite.

     If anybody had asked why I was taking such pains, I'm 
not sure I could have given an honest answer. I told myself 
that I just wanted to look better than my usual early 
morning frump because Don was going to be at breakfast, but 
that wasn't really true. It probably was part of it, but it 
wasn't the real reason.

     The truth was that I just felt really good. For the 
first time in a really long time, I felt like everything was 
perfect. Which was pretty crazy. After all, I had just found 
out that a whole bunch of creepoids were trying to get the 
squirts, that my life was going to be really strange and 
twisted -- well, more strange and twisted than usual -- that 
all my friends were at least as whacked out as me and Gina, 
and that some of my worst nightmares were likely to become a 
regular part of my future.

     If I had been truly rational about all this, I would 
have curled up on the floor of my closet and screamed into a 
pillow for the next five years.



     "You're up early."

     "Hey, Sarah," I whispered back. "How come you're up? I 
thought you didn't have class till ten."

     "I'm meeting Josh for breakfast."

     "He's not here?"

     "Nah. He went home after you guys went to bed. We 
figured with Mom prowling the halls, there wasn't a whole 
lot of point to him staying."

     "Sorry about that. I don't know why she picked last 
night to start playing chaperone."

     "Probably something to do with her last daughter losing 
it yesterday."

     "Was it that obvious?"

     "Only to anyone who was still breathing. You're not the 
most subtle girl, you know."

     "God, I'm so embarrassed."

     "Don't be. To be quite literal about it, it was fucking 
time."

     We had to control ourselves to keep from laughing so 
loud we'd wake the others. We went downstairs as quietly as 
we could to start the coffee.



     "Hey, Chrissie. What are you doing up so early?"

     She gave me the you-are-a-total-moron look.

     "So they're asleep now, aren't they? Why don't you 
catch some Z's while they're passed out?"

     "Because as soon as they sense I've fallen asleep, 
they'll start screaming. They've got this weird ability. No 
matter how deep asleep they are, they can tell when I've 
just shut my eyes. My only hope is either to stay awake all 
the time or to see how many sleeping pills I can slip them 
before I get caught."

     "Can't Jeff help out?"

     "I think he's worn a path in the carpet in our room 
from walking them all night."

     "That's so nice."

     "Yeah, except he's trying to finish another article. He 
claims it helps him to think when he walks the babies, but 
he's not writing as fast as usual."

     "What's this one on?" Sarah asked.

     "He claims he's found a pattern in stories about the 
bizarre in old newspapers."

     "Really," I said after I took another gulp of coffee. 
"We're supposed to be doing something like that in history."

     "So what are you doing in history?"

     "The headmaster wants us to check out stories about 
monkey-man scares in India. He thinks it may be related to 
wars in the Balkans."

     "I thought you were taking U.S. history."

     "We are. It has something to do with presidential 
election scandals and the deregulation of monopolies."

     "Your teacher is one sick puppy."

     "Yeah. That's what we decided when he made us all read 
Jeff's book."



     "Thanks for starting breakfast, Gina."

     "Uh, Mom, I'm Rickie."

     She stared at me for a few seconds.

     "You can't be. Your hair's combed, you're dressed, and 
you're pleasant. And it's still more than an hour before 
sunrise. Don't try to fool your mother."

     "Uh, okay."

     "Kids," Mom mumbled. "Think they can fool me just by 
switching brains for the day."



     Buck and Manny were the next ones down. Manny started 
to set the table while Buck helped make breakfast.

     "Buck, dear," Mom said, a bit more awake. "See if 
there's any batter left in the refrigerator."

     Buck pulled out a plastic container and started to pull 
off the lid.

     "Not that!" Mom shrieked.

     Fortunately, Buck didn't drop it.

     "I'm sorry, Buck. But those are the girls' flatworms. I 
really don't want to face them this early in the morning."

     "Flatworms?" Buck asked me.

     "Just something Gina and I are doing. We're trying to 
change the way their homeobox genes fire.
See if we can get them to grow extra eyespots."

     "Is it working?"

     "Nah. They just grow radially. They look like tiny 
starfish, only with more arms. It's kinda neat.
Wanna see?"

     "Later, Rickie," Mom ordered. "After breakfast."



     Jeff was the next one down.

     "They're still asleep," he said.

     "How come they sleep for you and not for me?" Chrissie 
whined.

     "They just love you more than they do me," Jeff 
answered. He was learning. Chrissie's face looked like the 
sun just came out.



     Don looked so good that I wanted to sit in his lap and 
play with his hair. But I figured Dad would freak. Mom 
wouldn't be too cool, either.

     Gina looked like she had just stepped out of a 
windstorm, and she wasn't dressed yet.

     "See?" Mom said to Sarah and pointed at Gina. "I told 
you they switched brains again."



     We made a quick run through the woods after Gina and 
Terri were dressed. We didn't see any new footprints. And 
the old ones were crusted over, which meant they hadn't 
stepped in their old tracks.

     I was going to toss a snowball at Gina, but she still 
wasn't awake enough to find it funny.

     "So you think that's all it takes? Getting rid of the 
main one?" Terri asked.

     "It'd be nice if it was that easy," Gina answered. "We 
should be so lucky."

     "Well, they haven't been back since Saturday," Dana 
said. "They might show up while we're at school.
But I don't think even they're stupid enough to mess with 
your mom and dad. Think we still should come back here after 
school?"

     "You're gonna have to go home sometime," I answered. 
"We'll just keep our eyes peeled. If anything happens, we'll 
holler."

     "Wish I lived closer," Dana said.

     "Because of this, or because of Derek?" Terri said 
snidely.

     "Derek, of course. You think I wanna be in the middle 
of this all the time?"

     "Smart girl."



     "I'll call you after school," Don said, then gave me a 
hug and a kiss. We were trying to hide in the stone room for 
the last few minutes before we had to leave, but everybody 
just happened to wander in.



     "I made an appointment for you two with Dr.
Wilson today," Mom told us before we piled in her car.
"I'll pick you up at school at 2:00."

     "How come, Mom?"

     She glared at us, which was a pretty good answer.



     "Gina, can I talk to you?"

     "I'm Rickie, Kyle. And no, I'm not going out with you."

     "I'm not hitting on you this time. Promise. I just 
wanted to ask you something."

     "Sorry, Kyle. What you want?"

     "Well, you guys seem to know more about what's going on 
here than anyone else, and, uh..."

     "You know as much as we do."

     "Yeah, but... Well, you're, like, in tight with the 
headmaster and all."

     I had to laugh at that. The idea of anybody being "in 
tight" with the headmaster was too weird.

     "I, I mean..." Kyle was stammering.

     I felt a little sorry for him. He was a nice guy, and 
pretty good-looking, too, except he was too thin.
But he seemed to think no girls liked him. If he ever asked 
anybody except Gina and me, he'd have no trouble getting 
dates.

     "It's just that, well... A lot of us were wondering if, 
like..."

     "C'mon, Kyle. I gotta get to my next class."

     "Well, my circle was wondering if you could, like, ask 
the headmaster... I mean, if it comes up or something... 
well, if we could, like, do something else."

     "Something else? What are you doing now?"

     "I don't know. But it's like we're learning to be, 
like, you know. Peeping Toms."

     "Peeping Toms?" That was really weird, since Kyle was 
the only boy in his circle.

     "Well, like spies or something. I mean, like in PE. You 
guys get to do fencing and cool stuff like that. You know 
what Miss Chance has us doing? We're learning to hide."

     "Really?"

     "Yeah. So, we were wondering, if, like, when you're 
talking to the headmaster..."

     "Why don't you just ask Miss Chance to do something 
different?"

     "We have. She just says if we have a complaint to take 
it to the headmaster."

     "So why don't you?"

     "Well, we, uh..."

     "Yeah. I know what you mean."

     "So we thought, since you guys seem to get along with 
him so well, maybe you could mention it sometime."

     "Sure, if I can. But, you know, I don't know if I want 
to just blurt something out."

     "No. That's great. Just if you can sometime. No hurry."

     "Sure, Kyle. I'll ask him the first chance I get."

     "Thanks! You guys are great. I don't care what anybody 
says, you're all right."

     "Wait a minute," I called before Kyle could hustle 
away. "What do you mean, 'what anybody says'."

     "Uh, it's nothing. Really. It's just that, you know, 
you guys seem special. You know? Like, you're the only 
circle with 12 people. And you're in the headmaster's 
special class. And, uh, nothing."

     "Kyle!"

     "It's nothing, really. I didn't mean anything."

     "Kyle, you want my help?"

     "Okay. It's just that, well, some of us are a little 
scared of your circle. You know?"

     "What? Who's scared of us?"

     "Well, like, everybody."

     "Why?! Why is anybody scared of us?"

     "I'm sorry, Rickie. I don't mean anything, really. I 
mean, you guys are really cool. It's just that, you know, 
you can be a little scary sometimes."





23: The Clouds Full Fast



     I decided to tell the others about what Kyle said. I 
didn't like people thinking I was scary. So I hustled down 
the hall to catch everybody outside of history.

     Terri was riding on Sparks' back, skittering around 
like a spider on a giraffe while he tried to catch her. Dana 
had Derek off the ground, squeezing him to see if she could 
make his head pop. It was an educational thing, I think. 
Bryan was sneaking a photo.

     Manny was, well, cleaning his fingernails. Gordon was 
at the water fountain, sailing paper boats.
Caitlin and Heather looked like something from one of those 
old-hippie anti-drug films they showed us in middle school, 
all flowers and bangles and seriously wild eyes.

     Gina was standing in front of the bunch. I looked at 
her carefully, as if I was looking at somebody other than my 
sister. She was gorgeous. But she was wearing her leather 
jacket with black jeans and boots.
Her thick, dark hair was pulled back with a flamboyant 
ribbon, and I knew she was itching for a chance to put her 
mirror shades back on. The scarlet nailpolish matched her 
sweater.

     I looked down and fingered my leather jacket.
Maybe if we didn't wear these. Maybe just the pea coats. 
Those weren't as scary. And maybe if I wasn't so obsessive 
that I painted my nails to match my sweater. Aquamarine 
nails probably were a little over the top.

     I looked up again at my friends. The only two who 
looked close to normal were Jim and Janice. And hell, they 
weren't normal. Looking at my friends was like looking at a 
circus poster.

     Gina and Terri saw the look on my face. Terri jumped 
off Sparks' back. When her boots hit the floor, they didn't 
make a sound. Gina already knew what I was thinking.

     God, I really, really did not want to be scary. I 
turned around to look somewhere else, anywhere but the 
craziness of my friends. Kyle was at the end of the hall, 
looking down at his feet. His shoulders were hunched, and 
his knees bent too far. Brittany walked past, down the 
connecting hall behind Kyle. She looked like she was afraid 
something small was going to jump on her back. Jeez! The 
normal kids were as weird looking as we were. Well, almost.

     "Don't worry, Kyle!" I yelled down the hall.
"I'll ask him right after class!" I started to laugh loudly.

     "Th... Thanks, Rickie," he mumbled back.

     "And Kyle!" I shouted. He shuffled to a halt and turned 
back around. "Tell everyone I said, Boo!"



     "So what was that all about?" Terri asked.

     "Oh, Kyle, Brittany, and their circle don't wanna dig 
tunnels anymore."

     "What?"

     "Tell ya later. Let's get into class. Dad had that 
newspaper article about the Ikh Khoring. You know, Chinggis' 
Taboo. Genghis Khan's tomb."

     "He had that?"

     "Yeah. So now we find out what that had to do with the 
price of commodities and the collapse of foreign policy at 
the beginning of the century."

     "You know," Sparks started his old complaint. "I asked 
a lot of people. Customers who come into the shop. My mom. 
They were all alive when all this stuff supposedly happened. 
How come they never heard about any of it?"

     We all gave him the moron look and filed into class in 
front of him. He followed, still complaining loudly.

     "Yeah, yeah. I know. All I'm saying is we oughta have 
another way of checking this stuff out. You know what I'm 
saying?"

     Sparks had his complaint timed perfectly. He was quiet 
and sitting attentively a full two seconds before the 
headmaster came through the door.



     "But, Miss Addams, I do not choose the students' course 
of study."

     "Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir. I'm just asking for the 
others. But, sir, who does choose their course of study?"

     "Why, they do. And the regents, of course. No one gets 
placed into a class in which they do not belong."

     "Yes, sir. I'll pass that on. Thank you."

     "Think nothing of it, Miss Addams. And by the way, you 
needn't worry. While that nailpolish is 'over the top,' as 
you say, I think you will find many other odd colors 
displayed in this school. You have no more need to pick at 
it."

     "Yes, sir." Damn, I wish I knew how they did that.



     "You're kidding!"

     "No, really. Kyle said Miss Chance is teaching them to 
hide."

     "So why can't we do that?" Terri complained. "An easy 
A."

     "For you, maybe," Sparks said.

     "C'mon, Stretch. We'd just make you stand up straight. 
Nobody'd notice you. They'd think you were a light pole."

     "Did he really say that everyone is scared of us?" 
Caitlin asked.

     "Yeah. But you know, it's just Kyle. Maybe Brittany, 
too."

     "That is so cool," Heather squealed. She turned to the 
lunch table next to us, which was filled with sophomores. 
"Boo!" she shouted.

     The poor kids gathered their lunches and moved.

     Oh well, I thought. Gina and I put on our mirror 
shades.



     "I think I hate Dr. Wilson."

     "C'mon, Rickie. He's not that bad."

     "Nonsense. Anybody who comes at you with a speculum is 
an evil, twisted freak."

     "True. But as evil, twisted freaks go, he's not that 
bad."



     I thought they taught us everything we needed to know 
about birth control in school. After an hour with Nurse 
Wilson, we learned more than in a year of health classes. I 
also learned more about spermicides and diaphragms than I 
ever wanted to know.

     So much for romance. I could see it now. 'Yes, Don, I 
want you; but wait a few minutes while I go squirt some 
foul-smelling goo around the rim of this thing and shove it 
inside.' I figured the whole point of that thing was to 
prevent pregnancy by making sex a downer.

     Gina asked why we couldn't use the pills or just keep 
using condoms. Dr. Wilson explained that one of the problems 
with having an unusual biology was that a biological 
approach to birth control might not work.
As far as condoms, he told us we should continue to use 
them.

     "Great," I said, "why don't we just wrap ourselves in 
surgical rubber?" Which is when I learned that Dr. Wilson 
had some really strange ideas about sex.

     At least the plastic cases for those awful things came 
in different colors so we could tell them apart.
Gina's was a puke pink, and mine was that shade of blue one 
can find only in the floor tiles of public restrooms.




     "Well, you two seem a little too cheerful."

     "It's not that, Mom. That was just as disgusting as you 
wanted it to be."

     "It's not supposed to be disgusting, Gina. But you 
really have to think of these things. You know that when..."

     "Mom, we know!" I interrupted.

     "And I want you to keep remembering it. I don't care 
how carried away..."

     "Don't worry, Mom. We'll remember."

     "See that you do. So why are you girls in such a happy 
mood."

     "It's nothing, Mom. Really."

     "Rick-ie!"

     "Really, Mom," Gina answered. "Rickie just found out 
we're scary."

     "What?"

     "It's nothing, really. It's just that one of the other 
kids in school told me that everyone's scared of us. Of our 
circle, I mean."

     "And you're happy about that?"

     "Well, you know. It made me feel pretty bad at first. 
Especially when I took a good look at us and saw we really 
are pretty weird. But then I looked at everyone else. You 
know. All the normal kids. They're a heckuva lot weirder 
than we are."

     "We're all a bit weird," Gina said.

     "I hope you don't include me in that."

     "Oh no, Mom. You and Dad are the height of middle-class 
respectability."

     Mom, Gina, and I laughed at that the rest of the way 
home.



     "You're crazy, Rickie!" Gina hissed while we were 
rinsing dishes.

     "I don't know, Gina. I really don't wanna keep lying to 
him."

     "You're not lying."

     "Yeah, but... I really think he oughta know. It's only 
fair."

     "You're a moron. You finally get back together with 
him, and you wanna wreck it again."


     "I don't wanna wreck it. I just want it to be all true 
and all."

     "You're an idiot. It's none of his damned business."

     "It is if we're gonna, you know."

     "So why didn't you tell him before you did it the first 
time."

     "I wanted to. It's just that, well, things were, well, 
you know."

     "Yeah, I know. Things are going good, so you wanna fuck 
it up again."

     "No, really. I just wanna make sure it doesn't mess 
things up later. You know? Like if he suddenly found out 
sometime..."

     "And how's he gonna find out?"

     "I don't know. Somebody could let it slip. Or someone 
might tell him. Or something. I don't know. I just don't 
want any secrets. You know?"

     "C'mon. You don't have to tell him everything."

     "I... I don't want to. But I have to. Can't you 
understand?"

     "I think you're an idiot. So when you gonna tell him?"

     "He's supposed to be here in a few minutes."

     "Rickie! Not tonight, okay? Just put it off for a 
while. Till the weekend or something. Let's talk to Mom and 
Dad about this, okay?"

     "I'm gonna tell him, Gina. I have to."

     "Okay. Look, just do it where I'm around. Just in case 
he gets mad or something. Okay? He might not do anything if 
I'm there, too."

     "Please, Gina? Just let me do this on my own."

     "I don't think that's a good idea."

     "Please?"

     There was a knock at the door, and my stomach turned 
upside down.



     "Stop for a minute, Don. Please? I've gotta tell you 
something."

     I had dragged Don onto the deck. I had to chase Gina 
away twice because she kept lurking nearby.

     "So what do you haveta tell me?"

     "This is kinda hard. Please don't get mad, okay?"

     "Rickie, what is it? What did I do?"

     "It's not you. It's me."

     "Please, Rickie! We were just going so good!"

     "Don, I don't wanna lose you! Not ever. But I have to 
tell you. You have to know."

     Don's shoulders were bunched up, and his hands balled 
into fists at his sides. He looked like he was waiting to be 
kicked. God, I didn't want to do this.
But I had to tell him. It was only fair.

     "Don," I stuttered. I was turned half away from him. I 
couldn't look at him when I told him. If he wanted to leave 
me, fine. If he wanted to hit me, I'd understand.

     "I... I wasn't always like this."

     "Like what?"

     "I wasn't always... I used to be..." I couldn't get it 
out.

     "Are you trying to tell me that you used to think you 
were a boy?"

     "What?!"

     "Hey, it doesn't matter. Bryan told me about that a 
long time ago."

     "What?!"





24: The Odds of Knowledge



     "He what?!"

     "He told me like two years ago?"

     "Why?"

     "Well, we were at one of Nancy's school band things. 
And some asshole sitting behind me started calling me names 
and stuff. I was gonna pound the creep into the bleachers. 
But Bryan stopped me."

     "Who?"

     "I don't know. Some asshole. Meyer something.
Bryan said he used to go with MJ in like seventh grade or 
something."

     "How? What?"

     "So Bryan told me that in grade school you used to 
think you were a boy."

     "I was!"

     "No you weren't, Rickie. You were never a boy."

     "I was!"

     "No you weren't. You just thought you were."

     "I was, Don! Please!"

     "C'mon, Rickie. Maybe your body was like a boy's.
But did you ever really believe, deep inside, that you were 
a boy?"

     "Well, no, but..."

     "So you just grew out of it. Heck, we all believe weird 
stuff as kids."

     "But..."

     "C'mon, Rickie. What are you now? A boy or a girl?"

     "But..."

     "What are you now, Rickie?"

     "A... a girl, sorta."

     "So what're you worried about?" And he grabbed my 
elbows and pulled me into him.

     "So was that it? That's the big secret?" Don asked a 
few minutes later.

     "Yeah. Well, that and... and..."

     "C'mon, Rickie. Spit it out."

     "Well, I don't think I'm... I'm... I don't think I'm 
human."

     "Oh, hell. I could've told you that long ago." And he 
pulled me into a wonderful cloud.



     "Rickie, he was here just a half-hour ago!"

     "I know, Mom. I'll be off in a minute."

     "Teenagers!" Mom said with an exaggerated sigh.

     "Sure, Mom," Chrissie laughed from the dining room 
door, for once without the squirts. "You remember what it 
was like."

     "It was a very long time ago, Chrissie. Besides, I've 
learned a lot since then."

     "Tell that to someone who doesn't have the room below 
yours," Chrissie said.



     "C'mon, Rickie. Buck's supposed to call."

     "Rickie!" Mom called from the living room.

     I made Don promise to call me tomorrow and told him I 
loved him, too.



     "That is not gas. That's a smile."

     "Hey, I agree with you, Rickie. I'm just trying to tell 
you what I read. The books say at one week they smile only 
in their sleep."

     "The books are wrong."

     "Don't tell Jeff that. I think he's memorized all of 
them."

     "What have I memorized?" Jeff said as he walked into 
the living room.

     "Chrissie says the books say that babies don't smile."

     Jeff took Slurp from Gina and started to rock her.

     "The books are wrong," Jeff said. "Anybody with half an 
ounce of intelligence can tell that's a smile."



     Jeff managed to hold both squirts and still read his 
book. He was reading it out loud to the kids. It was 
something about the sociology of newspaper reporters, and 
the squirts seemed to be eating it up.

     Bug managed to grab Jeff's lip, with only a little help 
from Jeff. Slurp immediately grabbed the other side, and 
they pulled it out like a Ubange. Jeff just made a series of 
funny sounds, then tried to read the book without his lower 
lip. He was right. Those were definitely smiles.



     "I think Slurp's lost weight, Chrissie. I could swear 
she was heavier when she was born."

     "She was, Gina. They're supposed to lose weight for the 
first few days. The first couple of days what I had wasn't 
even really milk. It was colostrum, and it's supposed to 
give them all kinds of antibodies.
But they're beginning to gain weight now."

     "Well, you hurry up and get fat, Bug." I poked his 
tummy. "You got a lot to do, you know."

     "Yeah, he's gotta help Slurp out," Gina said.

     "Don't you listen to her, Bug. She's just a mean and 
nasty aunt."



     Gina and I were changing shoes. We wanted to take a run 
through the woods, and our canvas deck shoes would be better 
than the boots. The flat soles made it easier not to leave 
footprints everywhere.

     "So Bryan told him everything?"

     "I don't know. Don said that Bryan said I only thought 
I was a boy."

     "Yeah, well, that's true enough."

     "Gina! You know what I was."

     "I know what you think you were. But I think you were 
wrong."

     "So you think I should thank Bryan or pound him into 
the ground?"

     "I think you oughta forget about it."

     "Why?"

     "'Cause it's the kind of problem that goes away when 
you don't think about it."



     "So what was all that with Buck on the phone?" I asked 
as we entered the woods.

     "He's worried about me going to college next year."

     "Afraid you'll run off with some college studmuffin?"

     "I wish that's what he's worried about. I think he's 
just upset because it throws off his schedule."

     "Speaking of schedules, we oughta tell Dad that the 
battery's dead on Sparks' alarm."



     We'd been following the tracks for about a quarter-mile 
when they just disappeared. From the patterns their soles 
left in the snow, we could tell that there were at least 
three of them. But there might have been more, we just 
couldn't tell. Two of them were really heavy or were 
carrying something. We could tell because their tracks were 
a lot deeper than the third. I kept wishing Dana was there 
to tell us what we were looking at.

     We couldn't figure out what they were doing there, or 
even if they were something we should be worried about. They 
weren't anywhere near the fort.
They could have been just a bunch of teens looking for a 
place to drink some beers. We probably would have left them 
alone except they just stopped beneath an old sycamore. 
There weren't any tracks going back or forward, and there 
was nothing they could walk on except snow.

     Gina tapped my elbow and pointed to one of the sycamore 
branches. There was snow knocked off where it met the trunk. 
At first I didn't think that was important, except that all 
the other branches we could see had thicker snow against the 
trunk than further out on the limb. I looked harder and 
could see that the next branch up also had lost its snow.

     The moon was dim behind low, thin clouds, so we did not 
have enough light to see far into the tree.
Fortunately, it was even darker against the ground where we 
were. I didn't think anyone could see us.

     I was going to climb the sycamore and try to sneak 
underneath whoever might be up there, but Gina had a better 
idea. She pointed to an oak growing about 15 feet away. She 
gave me a boost to the lowest branch, and I hung on while 
she used my body as a ladder. When she was perched securely, 
she pulled me up. Then we helped each other from branch to 
branch until we were about 40 feet from the ground.

     At first I couldn't see anything. But I heard a hissed 
whisper from the sycamore, then I could make out black 
shapes near the trunk. At first they didn't look human, but 
I realized they had something on their backs. They were 
putting something across two branches; it probably was a 
board, because one of them stood on it. As we watched, they 
put down two more boards. They kept hissing at each other, 
apparently arguing about how the boards were placed.

     The clouds grew thinner and the moon brighter, and I 
could see more. These were not kids. They were pretty big 
men. One of them took a big spotting scope and a tripod from 
a duffel bag he had on his shoulder and began to set it up 
on the little platform they had built in the tree. One of 
the others started arguing with him, and he moved it behind 
the trunk where we couldn't see what he was doing. The guy 
who complained set up a tripod where the first guy had tried 
to set his.

     I had no idea what these guys were doing. Why would 
anyone set scopes at night in the middle of a tree in the 
middle of the woods? I didn't believe they were just looking 
for owls. But we were a long way from the fort, and there 
were a lot of trees between the house and us.

     Gina pointed to a branch that led from the oak almost 
all the way to the sycamore. About halfway there, a thick 
branch from the sycamore met it. They were bigger than the 
rope the old bastard made us run, but I wasn't sure they 
would hold us. Besides, they were covered with snow. I 
signaled Gina to wait until we saw what these guys were 
doing.

     The guy with the second tripod started to pull a 
telescope from his own duffel. Except, I realized, it wasn't 
a telescope. Gina followed me along the branches.

     "Can we help you?" Gina and I said at the same time.

     They guy with the rifle cursed and jumped back, which 
is a stupid thing to do when you're standing on a board high 
in a tree. He screamed. And when he hit the ground, his 
rifle went off.

     The other two decided to fight. But Gina kicked the end 
of one of the boards off its branch, and there was another 
scream.

     The last guy tried to hit me with the spotting scope. 
When I grabbed it, Gina kicked away the second board.

     I tried to hold him, but he was too heavy. Gina grabbed 
my waist, and together we tried to pull him up while he held 
the legs of the tripod. But it was a cheap tripod, and the 
mounting came apart. His scream was shorter than the other 
two because he didn't make it all the way to the ground. He 
was hanging with his neck caught in a branch about 20 feet 
further down the tree.

     Gina started swearing, the same word over and over. I 
was shaking so hard I couldn't even swear.

     I sat on the remaining board and started to cry.
We didn't even know what these guys were doing. I saw a 
rifle, and immediately we go and hurt them. Probably killed 
all three of them, and we didn't even know why.
We were becoming some kind of monsters.

     Gina tapped my shoulder and pointed to a small yellow 
light we could see between the branches. I still had the 
spotting scope, so I pointed it at the light and focused.

     Chrissie was at her window, looking out. Jeff had the 
twins in the rocking chair on the other side of the bed.

     I looked toward the base of the tree, hoping that all 
three of those bastards were dead.


25: The Ceremony of Innocence



     "Dad! Jeez! You trying to give me a heart attack?"

     "What happened, Lian hua?"

     "We found them up in that tree."

     "What were they doing there?"

     "There's a clear shot at Chrissie's window," I answered 
and gave Dad the rifle.

     "So who are they?"

     "Don't know."

     I already had the shirt off the shooter, but there 
weren't any tattoos. There was a thump as the one Gina got 
loose from the tree hit the ground. Dad cut his clothes off, 
but there wasn't a tattoo on him, either.

     "Cut off that one's right sleeve," Dad ordered.

     "Find something?"

     Dad pointed a penlight at the guy's arm. There were 
seven small scars. When we checked the other two, we found 
the same scars on their arms.

     "Looks like the big dipper," Gina said.

     "So now we know whose they are."



     The squirts were screaming when we got in the house. 
Their fists were balled, their faces were so red they were 
almost blue, and their eyes were scrunched with the effort. 
As soon as they saw us, they reached for us and squirmed in 
their parents' arms. So Chrissie handed Slurp to Gina, and I 
took Bug from Jeff. They grabbed our sweaters and went from 
screams to a cry.

     "They've been like that since they heard the shot," 
Chrissie said. "God, I was so scared."

     "Calm down, little Regina," Gina crooned. "We got the 
bad guys. Nobody's gonna hurt my little Slurp."

     Bug was kicking his feet like he was trying to crawl 
into my sweater. I told him he was safe, but it didn't make 
him any happier.

     "It's okay, little ones," Chrissie said. "They're okay. 
They didn't get hurt."

     The squirts stopped crying, but they held on even 
tighter than before.



     "You know, according to the books, they can't do that 
for at least three more weeks," Jeff said.

     As soon as I picked one fistful of hair out of Bug's 
mouth, he grabbed another.

     "Well, I wish you'd hurry up and teach him to read," I 
complained. "Otherwise he's gonna gum the hair right off my 
head."



     Detective Adler was the first to show up, if you didn't 
count Kieran's mom. But since she was there all the time 
now, I wasn't counting her.

     Adler wanted us to show him where we found the spooks, 
but the squirts wouldn't let us go. Mom and Dad decided to 
take him.

     As soon as they were gone, MJ called. I tried to hand 
Bug to his mom, but he wasn't letting go. Slurp started to 
scream, too. So I carried Bug with me to the phone.



     "Hey, MJ."

     "Don't give me that. What's going on?"

     "No, MJ. It's fine. It's all over."

     "I'll be over in ten minutes. Don't you dare do 
anything till I get there."



     Terri came in with Aunt Keiko, and Don followed them 
inside.

     "You were supposed to call us before you did anything, 
Rickie," Don said, and he didn't look happy.
"I thought we all agreed."

     "It wasn't like that. It just..."

     "Don't you argue with him, girl," Terri said sharply. 
"Who do you think you are, going off like that?"

     Bug was giving me the same look that Terri was, so I 
knew I was beaten.



     Sparks came in carrying a huge spool of tiny wire, 
followed by Bryan and Buck, each carrying a box of stuff. 
Terri started going through the boxes.

     "Motion detectors? Infrared? Stretch, this stuff went 
out with the dinosaurs."

     "They're just dummies," Sparks answered. "I mean, they 
work; but they're mostly for show. This is the real thing." 
And he took an oversized bobbin from his jacket pocket. It 
was wrapped with the tiniest wire I'd ever seen. "You and 
the twins gotta lay this. I don't want anyone seeing where 
it is. We'll put down the big stuff and make a show of 
wiping out our tracks."

     "Hey, you're learning, Stretch."

     "I have to. It's the only way I can keep my girlfriend 
from stealing all my stuff."



     MJ and Nancy came in while Sparks and Bryan were 
bringing in an old footlocker from his van. MJ started right 
in on the lecture about not calling them first.



     "Okay, I got hold of everybody," Gina announced.
"They're all gonna be at Derek's tonight. A couple of 
Willie's guys are gonna give Dana an escort when her dad 
drives her down. They'll call when she gets there."



     I managed to give Bug back to Chrissie, but he wasn't 
happy. Slurp had two fistfuls of Gina's sweater and wasn't 
letting go. Gina had to pry her hands loose while Jeff held 
her, and we thought the squirt was going to pop a blood 
vessel with her screaming.

     "I've gotta go outside with the others now," Gina kept 
telling little Regina. "I'll be right back, I promise." But 
Slurp wasn't buying it.



     The guys made a big show of sweeping away their tracks 
after they laid Sparks' dummy alarm. Terri showed off by 
running back and forth through them, but it set off a siren 
when Gina and I tried.

     Next, Terri unwound the wire from the bobbin while Gina 
and I pressed it lightly into the snow.
That line ran about ten feet further out than the guys' 
alarm, and it went all around the house. It was hard to 
believe that so much wire could fit on one spool, but it was 
so tiny that we got it all the way around the house and yard 
and still had a lot left.
Sparks told us to run the wire under the front door and just 
leave the spool propped against the wall.

     "So what do we hook it to?" Terri asked.

     "Nothing," Sparks replied. "It's done."

     "So what's it supposed to do?"

     "Go out and try to cross it."

     Terri got about three feet from the line when the 
bobbin let out a high-pitched whine that made my teeth hurt. 
It wasn't loud. In fact, you could hardly hear it. But it 
even made the squirts cry.

     Terri tried to make Sparks tell her how it worked, but 
he wouldn't.

     "I gotta have one thing to keep me safe from you."



     "See, Slurp. I told you we'd be right back."

     "They made us watch you through the windows," Jeff 
said.

     "I'm sorry, Chrissie." I felt bad about her kids 
screaming for us when she was there.

     "They were worried about you," she said quietly.

     "Don't let Chrissie fool you," Jeff laughed. "She was 
just as scared as the kids."



     "They were dropped off in an SUV at the highway and 
walked in," Detective Adler explained. "That means someone 
will come later to pick them up. I'll try to stake out that 
spot and follow them when their friends show up.

     "You don't have to do that," Sparks said. "I can follow 
them from here." He opened his footlocker and pulled out a 
small helicopter. The front where the cabin would be was a 
black metal ball with eight lenses sticking out of it.

     "That's a nice toy, son. But they probably won't stay 
in its range."

     "It's got about four hours of power. If they don't go 
more than a hundred miles, I can get it back.
If they do, I'll just have to build another one."

     "Trees and buildings are going to block your radio 
waves."

     "Yep," Sparks said as he pulled out a gob of wire, a 
laptop computer, and three small satellite dishes. "That's 
why I use the satellites. They're geosynchronous, and I can 
usually keep it in range of one of them."



     Bryan and I were making coffee. It was going to be a 
long night.

     "What?" he said when he caught me looking at him.

     "I was trying to decide whether to hit you or kiss 
you."

     "Do I get a choice?"

     "No," I said. Then I grabbed him by the ears and gave 
him a kiss.

     "Great. So if I don't tell Don, you don't tell Nance. 
Okay?"

     I chased him into the living room, poking him.



     "So why's it all green?" Nancy asked.

     "That's the available light mode. It uses less power. I 
also have infrared and ultraviolet. I have radar, too. And 
it has a little searchlight, but that drains power from the 
flight battery."

     "So does it have missiles?"

     Sparks looked a little sheepish.

     "Cool! Which button fires the missiles?"



     Since we were going to take shifts watching Sparks' 
monitor, Mom let us all sleep in the living room. 
Unfortunately, we had to keep our clothes on, and she was 
staying with us. We brought down the inflatable mattresses 
and tried to put them someplace out of the way but where we 
could still lie down and watch the TV.

     "Hey, who let Buck have the remote?"

     "I thought you girls liked this movie?"

     "Sometimes, but not tonight," I said. "I wanna see 
something with explosions."

     Terri swiped the remote when Buck wasn't looking.
"You'll like this one," she said when she got to her 
channel. "It's kind of a romantic comedy, so Buck'll like 
it. But it's about mob hitmen. They blow up a car to burn 
some bodies, too."

     "Cool," Gina said. And Nancy made Terri turn up the 
sound a little.



     I dreamed about my first mom. She was crying because I 
wouldn't wear my pink T-shirt. It was like in Old Mrs. 
Kramer's video. Except Dad was there, telling her it 
wouldn't be forever. In my dream I told her that it didn't 
mean anything, that I just thought I looked stupid in pink. 
Then she was smiling through her tears, and everything was 
all right. I woke in the middle of the night and felt like 
singing and dancing.
I felt so good that I didn't think I'd ever fall asleep 
again. Then I scrunched up between Don and MJ and fell 
asleep.



     "Your turn, Rickie."

     "Mmmphlg."

     "C'mon, Rickie."

     "I'm up. Any coffee left?"

     "Fresh pot by the laptop."

     "Great. Creeps! There they are!"



     Everybody was crowded around Sparks as he operated the 
controls. He finally had to tell us to stop telling him what 
to do or we'd have to leave the room. Mom ran to get 
Detective Adler.



     "Can you get behind it, son? I want the license 
number."

     "Already got it." Sparks touched a couple of keys, and 
the license was in a small window in the top corner of the 
screen.

     "Great work, son. We should be able to trace that in no 
time."

     "It's a rental," Sparks said. "Picked up yesterday in 
the capital. Rented to a Bjorne Dubu.
Want to see his driver's photo?"

     "You ever thought about being a detective, son?"

     "Nah. It's faster to find out stuff my way. Want to see 
his credit record?"

     "Neat," Terri said. "Can we charge stuff to his card?"



     "What's he doing in front of Barney's?"

     "He's just slowing down. Somebody better call Barney 
and tell him what's going on."



     "Now where's he going?"

     "It's an apartment garage."

     "Better circle the building, son, in case there's 
another exit."

     "Easier to do this," Sparks said. The building got 
smaller as the helicopter rose higher. Sparks changed 
lenses, and we could see the streets all around the 
building.

     "Doesn't look like he's coming out. Let's see if we can 
find his apartment."

     Sparks circled the building twice before we saw a light 
come on. He hovered in front of the window, but the curtains 
were drawn. The lenses switched again, and we could see a 
blurry shape moving in the apartment.

     "Now that's a big guy!" Sparks checked the little 
window. "Yep, matches his driver's license. Six-four, about 
325 pounds. Wears a size 14W shoe."

     "How do you know his shoe size?"

     "He buys them mail order."





26: The Structure of Unknowing



     "Dad, you really need another water heater."

     "And I gotta start leaving some clothes over here," MJ 
said. "Anybody see what I was wearing yesterday?"

     "We're washing your clothes now, girls," Mom said. 
"They should be done soon."

     "Who's washing them?" MJ squeaked, then ran to the 
basement shouting. "Buck, you pervert. Stay away from my 
underwear!"

     Mom had a confused look on her face.

     "He irons everything, Mom," Gina explained.

     "Everything?"



     "School?! Mom, you gotta be kidding!"

     "No, I'm not. Bryan, your father is driving this 
morning."

     "You're a cruel and heartless woman, Mrs. A."

     "Yes, dear."



     "Buck, you moron," MJ was fuming. "This used to be 
memory wire. This is _not_ the shape it was supposed to 
remember!"



     Sparks was in front of his laptop with Detective Adler.

     "I got enough power to bring it back, or I can use the 
rest on the camera. That should last for another eight 
hours."

     "Leave the camera on, son. My men will get it when the 
battery runs out."

     "Why don't you just get him?"

     "We want to learn as much as we can first. Don't worry. 
He won't get away."



     "You should have let Buck wash your clothes, Stretch," 
Terri complained. She was sitting on Sparks' lap in the back 
of Bryan's dad's car. "You're beginning to get ripe."

     "Not a chance," Sparks said. "Last time, he starched my 
underwear."

     "Shouldn't of called him Suzy Homemaker," Bryan 
laughed.



     As soon as we quieted down, Miss Harris put on her 
stern look. It wasn't too stern, since she'd been up all 
night at the fort and was beginning to feel uncomfortable in 
her clothes.

     "I have a note from the headmaster to tell you to stop 
scaring the younger students."

     "Can we still scare the juniors and seniors?" Heather 
asked.

     "It doesn't say anything about them in this note, so I 
guess you can," Miss Harris smiled. "And Miss Lohan. I have 
another note from the headmaster, asking you to return his 
desk."



     "Aren't you guys going to class?" Sparks asked.

     "We got an idea," Gina explained. "Tell Mr.
Taliafero we'll be a little late."



     There was nobody in Miss Chance's class. She was 
standing in the center of the gym, looking at her watch. We 
knew that Kyle's circle was supposed to be here for this 
period, so it was a little weird.

     "Can I help you, girls?"

     "I don't know, Miss Chance. We wanted to ask you and 
Kyle something. But..."

     Miss Chance clapped her hands, and the room suddenly 
had kids in it.

     "Wow, that's really great!" Gina said.

     "You had a question?"

     "Yes, Miss Chance. We, well, we've got kind of a 
situation. We were wondering if this circle could help us 
out."

     "What did you have in mind?"

     "Well, we have someone we need to keep an eye on.
It's kinda dangerous, but..."

     "Class!" Miss Chance barked. "Time to get to work." 
When they surrounded Gina and me, Miss Chance said, "So tell 
us who, where, and what you need to know."

     "Gee, thanks, Miss Chance. I, I don't know what to 
say."

     "Just tell us what you need. That's what we're here 
for, you know."

     "But, what?"

     "Rickie, haven't you figured out yet what this school 
is for? Of course we'll help."



     "Sorry we're late, Mr. Taliafero."

     "That's fine, Miss Addams. Did you get what you need?"



     "Mr. Taliafero, can the lines cross without touching?"

     "Excellent, Gina. So, Mr. White, can you think of 
anything that does that?"

     "Not unless you think of them as probabilities, sir."

     "Precisely. And Mr. Jajich, when you've finished 
turning your pen into a rocket ship, perhaps you can tell me 
the answer to the next problem."



     "Ah, the Misses Addams. I am glad you could come to my 
class. Or do you need to run off and convince another class 
to leave school early."

     The headmaster had his fingertips together and was 
staring over them. It did not look good. I had visions of 
scrubbing toilets.

     "Sorry, sir. It's just that..."

     "Miss Addams," he stared at me, and I gulped.
"Can you tell me how many regents this school has?"

     "Uh, eight, sir?"

     "And of those eight, how many were at your home last 
night?"

     "Uh, eight, sir?"

     "Precisely. So it should be obvious that this school is 
here to help you. However, Miss Addams, in the future, when 
you or your sister decide to, shall we say, recruit our 
students, you first will come to me with your request. Is 
that understood?"

     "Yes, sir."

     "Good. Now, since Miss Chance seems to have left, and 
since Miss Harris has other responsibilities for the moment, 
it seems that this is your last class for the day. I suggest 
that you use this time to call your parents and arrange for 
rides home."

     The headmaster stood and walked toward the door, but we 
were too stunned to move.

     "Come on, ladies and gentlemen. You have a great deal 
to do, and you will get none of it done here." Then he was 
gone.



     "Mom! What did you do?"

     We were piled in Sparks' van. His mom had driven it to 
the school to pick up all of us.

     "Daedalus J. White! How dare you talk to me like that. 
And after I do you a favor and drive your precious van for 
you!"

     "But, Mom! The trigger guard is up! Do you know what 
that can do?"

     "And that's another thing, young man. As soon as you 
have the time, you will replace our mailbox."



     "So, Dana, what did your mom say?"

     "I didn't call her."

     "You didn't call her? What's she gonna say when she 
comes to get you this afternoon and you're not there?"

     "I called my dad to get him to call her. If I called my 
mom, I'd still be on the phone."



     Derek and most of the circle piled in his Hudson to 
follow us the rest of the way to Sparks' house.
Sparks had a lot of trouble getting his van into the drive. 
He finally had to drive across the lawn to avoid the crater 
where his mailbox used to be.



     "Don't drop that, Derek," Sparks warned.

     "And if I do?"

     "The whole block will look like the end of my drive."

     Derek took a firmer hold on the crate and took smaller 
steps.



     Buck's and Don's cars were in the drive when we got to 
the fort. When Sparks pulled in the drive, they came around 
the side of the house to help us unload.

     "How'd you get out of school?" I asked Don.

     "Your mom called. They lost the bear."


     "What?"

     "He slipped past that detective's men. They have no 
idea where he is."



     "Damn! How can you lose somebody that big? You should 
have taken him when you had the chance!"

     "Calm down, Sparks," Buck said. "He was right. We need 
as much information as we can get."

     "But now we got no info, and that creep is running 
around loose."

     "Rickie," Jeff poked his head in the stone room.
"Your gym teacher is on the phone."

     "Great! We might still have something, guys."

     "From your gym teacher?"

     But Gina and I were running to the kitchen and didn't 
have time to explain.



     "Great! Where?... Let me write this down... How 
long?... You're a life saver... Do you have a number I can 
call?... Okay, an hour. We'll be waiting."

     "What, Gina?"

     "They've got him. He's eating lunch."



     "So who found him?" Don asked.

     "Some kids at our school. Gina and I asked them to 
shadow this guy."

     "So you finally called in the school," Aunt Keiko said.

     "Yeah, how come you didn't tell us about that?"

     "Because we weren't allowed, dear. They can help you 
only when you have learned enough to ask."

     "Your school?" Don said, confused. "Just what kinda 
school are you going to?"

     "Hippie High," Gina laughed. "You know. Sex, drugs, 
rock 'n roll, and the best surveillance team on the planet."

     "Don't forget weapons training," Janice added.

     "You know," Sparks laughed, "hippie stuff."



     "So did you recommend Kyle?" I asked Detective Adler.

     "Certainly. I recommended his entire circle. Best 
natural talent I've ever seen."



     "So how come the camera didn't catch him?" Sparks 
asked.

     "Uh, I meant to tell you, son..."

     "You crashed my helicopter?"

     "It was an accident..."

     "How could you crash it? It's so easy to fly, a little 
kid could do it."

     "Well, uh, I, uh, became a little flustered."

     "Okay, what did you do?"

     "Uh, I shot down a television antenna."

     "Great! This is what happens when I let other people 
play with my stuff."



     I was waiting beside the phone when Miss Chance called 
back.

     "He's back in his room, but he made a call."

     "Who'd he call?"

     "A payphone across town. We didn't find whom he 
called."

     "So what did he say?"

     "Just four words. 'One, two, and three.' We're not sure 
what it means."

     "A code?"

     "Maybe. But Brittany doesn't think so. She's the one 
tapping his phone."

     "So what does she think?"

     "She thinks they're people, maybe teams. She says it's 
like he was ordering three things to be done at once."

     "Oh, shit!"

     "Yes, Rickie. That's what I thought, too."






27: No Enemy But Time



     "Terri, I told you we weren't bringing those."

     "Cool it, Stretch. You never know what we might need."

     "Just great. Well, you can carry them into the tower. 
And for god's sake, don't let any of them get out!"



     We did everything we could think of to prepare.
The fort was locked down, and all the curtains were shut. 
Sparks set up one of his toys in Mom's piano room, just 
above Gina's and my room. And Buck was busy explaining all 
the ways in which it could go wrong.

     "I thought I'd put Chrissie, Jeff, and the kids in the 
basement to be safe," Dad said. "Maybe we should put Gina 
and Rickie down there, too."

     "No Way!" Gina shouted, but Dad quieted her with a 
scowl.

     "She's right, sir," Buck said. "The basement is not the 
safest place. It's too easy to get into through your shop, 
and too hard to get out of."

     "So where do you suggest?"

     "Sarah's room. They can put the babies in the bathtub. 
It's cast iron, so it's the safest place in the house."

     "Okay. Girls, you go with them."

     "Dad!"

     "Rickie's right, sir. The twins will be more useful at 
our perimeter. If we have to retreat, we'll fall back toward 
the kids. But it'll be bad if we have to."



     "Mr. A. You gonna need your shop for the next couple 
days?" Sparks asked.

     "Wasn't planning on it."

     "Do you have any cans of foam insulation?"

     "Yes, there's two in the shop. Why?"

     "Just don't go in there till I tell you it's okay."



     Jeff looked furious. I hoped he'd keep the safety on 
that rifle.

     The twins were screaming again. They wouldn't stop 
until Gina told Slurp they had to stay quiet to keep 
everybody safe.



     "Still no answer at Barney's."

     "Oh god. What should we do?"

     "Nothing we can do right now. Just wait."



     "Maybe we should take a little run. See what's out 
there."

     "Just sit quiet, Rickie."

     "Buck, I hate waiting!"

     "So read a book."



     "Rickie, stop peeking through the curtain."

     "I just wanna see."

     "And anybody outside can see you."



     "Chrissie, what are you doing down here?"

     "Just wanted to get something to drink."

     "So send somebody else down. Like Dr. Wilson.
He's not doing anything."

     "But I _hate_ waiting," Chrissie whined.



     There was a sound like a string of firecrackers and a 
series of thumps on the front wall. Everybody hit the floor 
except Chrissie, who started swearing and ran upstairs to 
her kids. When the thumps stopped, I jumped to the window 
and looked out. The car was just taking off, with three big 
guys in it. Sparks fired something from the tower, and there 
was a sudden splash of yellow paint on the car before it 
disappeared.

     "Great. The idiot's firing paint balls!"

     There was a whoosh, and a smoke trail came over the 
roof to the road, where it made a right turn and followed 
the car over the hill.

     "Or maybe not," I said.

     A second or two later, there was a loud explosion.

     "Guess not."



     "So why didn't the shots come through the wall?" Buck 
asked.

     "Probably couldn't get through the house wrap," Dad 
answered.

     "House wrap? What you use, kevlar?"

     "Got a great deal on it."



     "That was easy," Jim said as he got colas for 
everybody.

     "Hasn't started yet," Buck said.

     "Huh?"

     "That was just to make us think we did something.
Get us to relax. They'll give us a couple of hours, though. 
Try to convince us that was it."

     "Rats. So anything on the TV?"



     "Hey, Chrissie. Let me in."

     Once the door was open, I wasn't sure I could get in. 
Sarah's room was not made to hold 12 adults.

     "Sure showed them," Mrs. McGreal cheered as I squeezed 
in the door.

     "Buck says that wasn't real," I explained. "He says 
it'll be a couple of hours before they do anything for 
real."

     "It looked pretty real to me," the judge said.

     "Yeah, but they couldn't be sure they hit anybody, yet 
less what they wanted to hit. Buck said that was meant to 
make us feel too cocky."

     Jeff looked furious, but at least the safety still was 
on the rifle.



     "Hey, squirts. Miss me?"

     They both grabbed my hair as I leaned over the tub. I 
let them pull on it awhile, since they seemed to be having 
so much fun.

     "I'm thinking about keeping them in the tub all the 
time," Chrissie said. "When they get messy, I can just hose 
them down."

     "Oh, you poor babies," I moaned and tickled their 
tummies. "Mean old Mom wants to raise you in a tub."

     "At least I'll get to feel clean once in a while.
I haven't felt clean since they were born."



     While the squirts were occupied with pigging out, I 
slipped out of the room. Since I still had some time, I 
decided to take a quick shower and change my clothes. I had 
to push hard on my bedroom door because someone had stuffed 
a towel in the space at the bottom. Gina and Terri were 
sitting by the open window.

     "Gina, when did you start smoking?"

     "About five minutes ago."

     "Give me one."



     "You two mind? I wanna take a shower."

     "Sorry," Derek mumbled, and he and Dana tucked in their 
clothes and hustled out.



     "I'm sorry, Don."

     "What are you sorry about?"

     "You know. All this."

     "It's not your fault."

     "But if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here.
You'd be safe."

     "In that case, thank you."



     "I'm sorry, MJ."

     "Shut up and keep making sandwiches."

     "What?"

     "You're gonna start whining again."

     "But..."

     "Okay, I'd rather be home in bed. In fact, I'd rather 
be home in bed with you. Not gonna happen. Not tonight, 
anyway. Get over it."

     "I was just gonna say I splashed mustard on your 
jeans."



     "So we just gotta sit inside and wait?" Heather was 
complaining between bites of her sandwich.

     "Yeah," Caitlin echoed. "I thought we were gonna get to 
kick some ass."

     "Maybe Sparks'll let me fire off a couple of his 
rockets?" Heather suggested.

     "Oh, heck. I forgot to take some sandwiches up to 
Sparks and Terri."



     "Just a minute!" Sparks shouted when I knocked on the 
door to Mom's room. When Terri finally opened the door, 
Sparks was still stuffing his shirt tails in.

     "Ga, can't you two wait a day?"

     "We've been waiting," Terri complained. "It's been 
days!"

     "Poor baby."



     "Shit! Here they come!"

     I called downstairs, and Gina and Janice relayed the 
call through the house.

     "Stay here, Rickie, and help load."

     "Right."

     "Yell down and make sure everybody stays out of the 
basement."

     Terri yelled, and she didn't need anybody to relay her 
shout. They must have heard her in the woods.

     Sparks opened a window in the back of the room and 
braced his little rocket launcher against the sill. Terri 
crouched beside him with a long, funny-looking rifle.

     "Don't splash a target unless there's a bunch of them 
together or unless they got something big," Sparks ordered. 
"I only have 19 of these things left." Then he showed me how 
to slip the tiny rockets into the back of his launcher while 
he aimed.

     From the tower window, we could see them moving through 
the trees. They were moving slowly, as if they thought they 
were sneaking up on us. There must have been at least a 
hundred of them.

     I spotted about a dozen trying to sneak around the side 
of the house. When they crossed Sparks' first alarm, my 
teeth hurt even from the third floor.

     "Let them go," Sparks said. "They're gonna try to get 
in the shop door. I got something special waiting for them 
there."

     The spooks were carrying a battering ram. It was a log 
about four feet long and wrapped with rope. They dashed from 
the woods, and I couldn't see them anymore.

     There was some shouting downstairs, and I heard wood 
crack outside. Then there were awful screams. One spook 
staggered to the back yard before he collapsed in the snow.

     Then the rest started running out of the woods.
There were more than I thought, so many I couldn't even 
guess. Terri splashed a few groups carrying more rams, and I 
loaded rockets in the launcher one after another. It didn't 
take long before we were down to two.

     There was shooting. Most of it was from the spooks, but 
some came from the bedroom at the top of the other tower. 
Don and Derek were up there. I heard shots from the window 
below me and heard Heather and Caitlin whooping and 
cheering. And every few seconds a spook fell with an arrow 
through its head or chest.
But there were too many spooks to shoot them all.

     "Shut all the windows!" Sparks shouted. He had to shout 
it a second time before Heather and Caitlin did what he 
said. Then Sparks grabbed a footlocker and pushed it out the 
window.

     "Damn, Terri, I love you."

     "Told you they'd come in handy."

     "Rickie, you and Terri run through the house and make 
sure everything's shut."



     I watched the footlocker from my own window, having had 
to argue with Heather to shut the window instead of shoot. 
It had better do something quickly, because the spooks were 
already at the back door; and even without the rams, it 
wouldn't take them long to break in.

     The side of the footlocker split open, and the things 
came out, like spiders leaving a nest. I watched for another 
few seconds before I turned and joined Heather and Caitlin, 
vomiting on my rug.


28: The State of Broken Things



     I had never seen anything like that, and I never wanted 
to see it again. The spiders ran across the top of the snow. 
When they got to a spook, they jumped on it or climbed its 
leg. When they got to the body, they started digging, 
kicking the guts out behind them. A second later, they poked 
out the other side, red and dripping. Then they jumped to 
the ground and chased another spook.

     Some of the spooks tried to climb trees to get away, 
but the spiders chased them into the branches.
One woman spook stood very still, and the spiders passed 
her. As long as she stood perfectly still, she was okay. But 
then she panicked and tried to run.

     One spider skittered across the window, then onto the 
roof of the house. It left a red trail. Caitlin ran to the 
bathroom.

     A few spooks made it to the woods and continued to run. 
I was praying they would get away. The snow in our yard was 
a dark red.



     "My God, Sparks! What the hell are they?"

     "They aren't supposed to do that. They don't work 
right."

     "They don't work right?! What the hell are they 
supposed to do?!"

     "I... They were supposed to bring in the mail and fetch 
model planes off my roof. But... something went wrong. I 
don't know what yet."

     "Jeeezus, Sparks!" Don looked as pale as I felt.
I guessed we'd have to clean Mom and Dad's rug, too.
"Where'd you come up with that idea?"

     "Well, I got the idea from a videogame. I, uh, I used 
the chips from the game, too. I thought I got them clean, 
but..."

     One of the spiders skittered across the living room 
window. It stopped briefly at the window frame, then we 
could hear it climb the wall.

     "Jeeez!" Buck looked a little better than the rest of 
us, but not a lot. "So turn them off."

     "Uh, I can't. We gotta wait till they run down."

     "How long?"

     "Least an hour. They won't go more than 50 yards from 
their case, but they'll, uh, go after anything that moves 
out there."



     Mrs. Kramer came out her front door, carrying a huge 
basket in one hand and a cane in the other. We tried to warn 
her to go inside. We pounded on the window and shouted and 
waved. Another one of those spiders skittered across the 
window in front of our faces.

     I watched in horror as one ran out in the road to get 
her. When it got close, Mrs. Kramer squished it with her 
cane. She hobbled on as if it was nothing.
Another spider was squished, then a third. One tried to jump 
on her when she reached our yard, but she knocked it out of 
the air. It landed on its back and twitched.

     Mrs. Kramer walked right to the door, just smiling and 
batting away those spiders as if they were mosquitoes. Dad 
was waiting at the door. When she got there, he opened it 
quickly, pulled her through, and slammed it shut.

     "Nasty things," Mrs. Kramer shuddered. "Always hated 
spiders."



     "Mrs. Kramer, what are you doing here?!"

     "Rickie, you sound as if I'm not welcome."

     "But... But..."

     "Hush, child. You all looked so busy over here today 
that I was sure you'd forget about cooking dinner. I brought 
some of Mr. Kramer's special stir fry."

     My stomach gave a happy little flip, and I was ashamed 
of myself. I had just seen the most horrible thing I could 
imagine, and my mouth was watering for Mr. Kramer's special 
stir fry. Now I knew I was some kind of monster.

     "Nonsense, dear. You're perfectly normal. A body has to 
eat, you know."

     Damn! Everybody seemed to be able to do that but me.



     "Miss Chance! Is everybody all right?"

     "Yes, Rickie, we're fine. But how are you?"

     "We're okay. What about Dubu?"

     "I'm afraid he's gone, Rickie."

     "Gone? What happened?"

     "He made a call about an hour ago, a number in 
Philadelphia. Brittany thinks it was to a recorder. He said 
he was going to keep you occupied while he escaped. We have 
two girls at the car rental, and two at the airport, but he 
hasn't shown up yet."

     "Rats! Okay. Thanks a lot, Miss Chance. Tell everyone 
they probably saved our lives."

     "Glad to help, Rickie. And we'll call you as soon as we 
learn anything new."



     Terri was the only one that was small enough to borrow 
clothes from Gina and me, and she was the only one who 
didn't need to. Her years with Uncle Amos had taught her to 
keep a stash of extra clothes in case the ones she was 
wearing suddenly disappeared.

     Caitlin, Heather, and Janice were able to borrow 
clothes from Sarah and Chrissie. Dana had to borrow one of 
Tom's shirts; and even then, she was lucky her underwear was 
clean.

     There was a long line at each of the showers.
Gina and I were last, and the water was like ice.

     "You're going to need more blow dryers," Terri observed 
while I searched for clean underwear.



     Sparks ran in the back door and upstairs to the 
bathroom. When he came down, he looked pretty sick.

     "All the wall-crawlers are off now," he said, then ran 
back upstairs to the bathroom.



     Derek made a phone call, then told us to make sure all 
the curtains were closed.

     "What's up?" Caitlin asked.

     "Just getting some friends to clean up," he mumbled.

     "And how are they gonna do that?" Sarah squeaked.

     We tried to wave her down, but she was on the edge of 
hysteria and kept insisting that Derek answer.

     "Um, they, uh, they're sworn to feast on my enemies."

     Sarah and Heather reached the bathroom at the same 
time.



     Manny was chopping more veggies for the stir fry while 
Gordon was making pot after pot of instant rice.
It was fascinating to watch Manny with the knife. It moved 
in a blur, and I was amazed that he missed his fingers. But 
everything was cut so precisely it looked as if it was done 
by a machine.

     None of what had happened seemed to have fazed them in 
the least. The two of them harmonized a Spanish song while 
they worked. When they reached the second chorus, Mrs. 
Kramer joined in; and Manny almost cut himself while 
laughing. I wanted to know what Mrs.
Kramer had sung, but she said she'd tell me when I was 
older.



     Dad and Tom walked in the kitchen.

     "I know that smell," Tom almost sang. "Rickie's 80 
proof delight!"

     I had to threaten to bang them with the wok before 
they'd let me cook in peace.

     "What is it?" MJ asked.

     "Something Mrs. Kramer taught me. You'll love it." She 
looked so good in Chrissie's tattered old robe that I had to 
stop for a moment to give her a kiss.

     Don walked in, so I kissed him, too.

     "Rickie, don't forget to keep it moving while you play 
with your friends," Mrs. Kramer laughed.

     "Okay, you two. Out till I finish."



     "This is great," MJ said with her mouth full. Don 
already had been over several times when I made this, so he 
knew better than to waste time talking when there was some 
left. Jeff and Tom reached for the spoon in the big bowl at 
the same time, and I thought they were going to get in a 
wrestling match for the last bites.

     "I guess I didn't bring enough," Mrs. Kramer said.

     I looked around the room. Everyone was full long ago, 
but they still were wiping their plates clean and looking to 
see if there was any left in the bowl.

     "So, you gonna teach me to make this, Rickie?" Buck 
asked. He had actually licked his plate.

     "Sorry, Buck. It's a secret."

     "We're like best buds, right?" Nancy said. "You can 
tell me. I won't tell. Promise."

     "So, you'll tell me, right, Gina?" Buck tried.

     "Sorry," she answered. "Rickie's the one who cooks 
this. I just help eat it."

     Buck sidled up to Mrs. Kramer and started rubbing his 
head on her shoulder. "So you'll tell me, right, Mrs. 
Kramer? Aren't I one of your favorite kids?"

     Mrs. Kramer pushed him away, laughing.



     "So I guess everybody is sleeping over again," I said 
to Don and MJ.

     "Guess so. We gonna camp out in your living room 
again?"

     "I think Mom's gonna make us go to separate rooms 
tonight."

     "Rats."

     "Yeah. But I bet she goes to sleep tonight."

     "So what did you have in mind?"



     I tossed a coin with Gina for the bedroom. It came up 
heads. She demanded a second toss, and it was heads again.

     "You get that coin from Terri?" she accused me.

     I just put on a shocked look so I wouldn't have to 
admit it.



     The yard was a mess. All the bodies were gone, but the 
snow was still dark, even in the moonlight.
There were shallow craters everywhere, one right where Gina 
and I had planted our rose bush. Some of the other bushes 
were crushed, tree branches were down, and the railing on 
the deck was splintered. I knew that, even when everything 
was fixed and cleaned, I would never be able to see my yard 
how I used to see it when I was a kid. I wanted to cry.

     "So do you think they'll come again tonight?" Caitlin 
asked.

     "I don't think so," Buck answered. "If what Miss Chance 
says is right, then none of this was intended to get to us 
at all."

     A slight wind moved the clouds and roared like a wave 
through the tops of the trees. Heather pulled her blanket 
tighter around her shoulders. "I don't get it," she said. 
"If that thing didn't think it would work, why'd it waste so 
many of its spooks?"

     "'Cause it doesn't give a flying fuck about them," Don 
answered angrily. "It'd probably waste twice that many just 
to avoid a stubbed toe."

     "It might have a lot more," Buck said. "But even if it 
doesn't, it can always get more. There's lots of poor jerks 
that'll fall for whatever it tells them."

     "But why?" Heather asked. "Why do _this_?"

     "Just to get away," Buck said. "It's an old trick."

     "So how did he know we were onto him?" Gina asked. "Do 
you think he saw Kyle or the kids?"

     "No. I don't think he saw anybody. I don't think he had 
to."

     "What do you mean?" Sparks asked.

     "I think somebody told him." Buck spat and stomped into 
the house.



     "You're crazy!" Detective Adler shouted. "Every one of 
my men has been with me for years. I trust them."

     Buck didn't say a word. The detective stared at his 
coffee, getting angrier every second.

     "Damn! When I find that sonofabitch, I'll rip him apart 
myself!"



     When Miss Chance called again, the detective wanted to 
speak with her. He was on the phone for a long time.





29: Crown of Shadows



     Terri was on watch. As soon as Mom was asleep, she came 
and got us. Gina grumbled about wanting to see that coin 
again, but I told her I gave it back to Terri.

     If the giggling and shushing in the hall didn't wake 
Mom up, nothing would.



     "I don't know, Rickie. I thought this would be great, 
you know? I mean, what guy wouldn't? But... I'm sorry, but 
with MJ here... It's just..."

     "That's okay, Don. Me, too. Sorry, Rickie."

     "Hey, no problem. I just thought it'd be nice just to 
sleep with you guys. You know? We don't have to do anything. 
I understand. I just like waking up with you."

     Which was the biggest lie I had told in a long time.



     The screaming started about an hour later.

     Everybody was in the hall in a half-minute.
Heather poked her head out of Sarah's door.

     "Sorry, guys. Kate had a nightmare."

     The girls went in to calm her down and comfort her. She 
was sitting on an air mattress, her eyes wide and crying.

     "I'm sorry," she cried. "I just saw... I saw...
over and over."

     She didn't have to tell us. We knew what she saw.
All of us had seen it.



     Caitlin was the first, but not the last. About a half-
hour later, Tom was second.

     I was third. I woke up seeing that thing leave a trail 
across my window. Don and MJ held me until I stopped 
shaking, which took a long time. Finally, I was able to lie 
down. But I held the two of them as tightly as I could, and 
I did not fall asleep.

     As I shivered in my bed, I heard Terri scream upstairs. 
Gina was crying in the guest room. So much for our wild 
night.



     Someone was shaking me.

     "Come on, kids. Get dressed and get some breakfast."

     "Mom!"

     "Yes, dear. Put on old clothes before you come down. 
Mister Li is here for you and Gina. Which room is your 
sister in?"



     "God, I'm sorry, Rickie! I didn't mean to get you in 
trouble."

     "That's okay, Don. She knows anyway."

     "You told her?"

     "I didn't have to. C'mon, MJ. Let's all take a shower 
while we've got hot water."



     The shower was incredible. We soaped each other and 
rubbed each other clean and just rubbed each other. I 
noticed that Don didn't seem particularly embarrassed.

     "God, Don," MJ laughed. "How do you walk with that?"

     "Sorry. He's got a mind of his own."

     "That makes one of you," I teased, then used a little 
more soap.



     "No, we can't. The old bastard's downstairs. I gotta 
get down there."

     "He can wait."

     "Not that long, he can't. Besides, my mom might come 
back."

     That deflated Don pretty quickly.



     We met Gina and Buck in the hall. Gina and I looked at 
each other for half a second, then burst into laughter. We 
still were laughing when we got to the kitchen.



     "Good morning, Lian hua. I do hope you are well rested, 
because we have one more important lesson, which we must 
start this morning."

     "This morning?" Gina said. "But..."

     "Do not worry, Lian hua. I am sure your friends will 
remain here while you are gone. You might see them later."

     "But, sir," Buck started.

     "Please," Master Li said softly. "Certainly you three 
will wait for these two, will you not?"

     "Yeah, but..."

     "That is good, because that is the lesson that _you_ 
must learn today."

     "When will they be back?" MJ demanded.

     "Dear child. It is very likely that they will never 
come back. This morning might be the last time you ever see 
them in this life."

     Then the OB walked to the door, and Gina and I 
followed. I didn't get any breakfast. I didn't even get a 
goodbye kiss.



     "Follow me," the OB said quietly. "And be very careful, 
or you will die." And he was gone.



     Gina and I tried to figure where he went. There were no 
tracks, of course; and for some reason, we couldn't smell 
him, though the tobacco smell had been strong in his clothes 
just a moment before. We reached out with everything we had 
learned in three years, searching for even a feeling of him. 
Gina and I saw it at the same time, a flickering grey mist 
oozing through the trees.

     Gina started to run toward it, but I grabbed her 
shoulders and yanked her back. I don't know what made me do 
it, a feeling perhaps, or a movement caught with the corner 
of my eye. But it saved her life. There was a whoosh through 
the space where she would have been and a thunk against the 
house. Stuck in the wall of the house was a long, heavy, 
sharpened pole, like a crude spear.

     "I said to be careful." The OB's whisper echoed off the 
wall. It was impossible to determine its direction or 
distance.

     We moved cautiously to the place from which the spear 
had come. There was no one there, of course. But there were 
the remains of a complicated booby trap, made from saplings 
and creepers. Instead of running off immediately, Gina and I 
inspected the trap for whatever it could tell us. The ends 
of the creepers and the saplings were ridged, apparently cut 
with a series of shallow strokes. That made sense, since the 
OB, like Dad, kept his fingernails shorter than we did. 
There also was a trace of green under the bark of the 
saplings, and the cut ends were still wet. That meant that 
the OB had just built this; that it wasn't prepared long 
before. And that meant there could be many traps further on, 
that he could put them together even while we chased him. 
Today's game was too serious.

     "Rickie, what the hell is he doing? He could kill us!"

     "I think this might be the how to be careful lesson," I 
whispered back. "I don't know. Something doesn't feel 
right."

     "So do we follow him, or do we just go back inside?"

     Gina didn't expect an answer to that question.
Instead, we each grabbed one of the saplings from the trap 
and carved points in both ends with our nails.
They would be useful for probing ahead of us for more traps. 
Then we set off to catch the old bastard.



     Gina slapped me in the chest with her stick. The pain 
was sharp, and it knocked me on my butt. In the tree where I 
was standing were four wooden spikes that had not been there 
a moment before.

     "Cripes, that was close."

     "Rickie, I don't like this. Maybe we should go back."

     "Back might not be any safer."

     "So we get him. But no more running. We gotta get back 
to the basics, the stuff we did when we first started this 
crap."

     "Sure, you get to stay low, out of the way of these 
things."

     Gina used her stick to brush away snow a few feet in 
front of us. The snow had hidden about a dozen small wooden 
spikes stuck in the ground.

     "High or low, Rickie? Take your pick."

     "Uh, think I'll stick to high."



     It started snowing heavily about an hour later.
Even among the trees, they were big, slow flakes. They made 
it hard to see very far, and they deadened most of the 
sound. Gina and I were reduced to feeling our way ahead.

     Both of us were a mess, but we weren't hurt. Both had 
rips in our clothes. And somewhere about a quarter-mile back 
there was a large hunk of blond hair stuck to a tree. I had 
to rip it off quickly to get out of the way of the head-
crushing log that was swinging down. The old bastard's 
tricks were becoming nastier every time.

     "Straight ahead?"

     "He hasn't gone straight yet, Gina."

     "Then straight it is."



     We were out of the trees and in someone's back yard. 
There were three small ranch houses in a row, with swing 
sets and empty above-ground pools, each bordered with a 
chain-link fence. The snow still was heavy; and in the open, 
the wind was biting cold. But we could see a little further, 
at least. We still could find no trace of the old bastard, 
but we were certain that we were going the right way.

     Gina decided to run, and I followed. We jumped the 
fences; but we came down on our sticks, instead of our feet, 
using them to vault the space behind each fence instead of 
the fence itself. That set off another trap, which did no 
damage at all.

     After the third house, there was a wide field.
Brown cornstalks stood here and there, and the snow formed 
black-and-white patterns over the stalks that were on the 
ground. The surface was uneven from old furrows and months 
of disuse, a very dangerous place for us to run.

     The woods began again on the other side of the field. 
We knew somehow where the old bastard had entered.

     "This is ridiculous, Rickie. We'll never catch him this 
way."

     "So we go another."

     I took off at a 45-degree angle from where we knew he 
had gone. After a few steps I was running as fast as I 
could, for once enjoying the chase. The wind was stronger 
and the snow had become hard bits of ice against our faces. 
Gina jumped a cornstalk with a wild grin, and I jumped over 
Gina. The crazy, wondrous rush of running made the cold go 
away. My shoulders felt light, unused and eager. I wanted to 
drop my stick, shed my shoes, and run on all fours. The 
heart pounding, blood surging, flowing through every muscle, 
every bone. I wanted to sing, to shout, to roar.

     Gina pulled ahead, a red streak in the field. I laughed 
and ran faster, tagging her and daring her to catch me 
again. Her eyes a dark fire, she pulled alongside; and we 
dove into the woods together.



     The old bastard was near; I could feel him. Gina and I 
dropped low to the ground, barely above the snow. We 
slithered through bushes and weeds, around trees and over 
rocks. He would not be far. A few hundred yards away, in the 
hollow of a frozen stream.
Perhaps he was twisting more sticks into a trap, perhaps 
just crouched low and waiting. It didn't matter. We would 
come in from the side and behind.

     I felt my tongue curl behind my teeth, and ran with my 
mouth open. It would be fun to sink those teeth into the old 
bastard. Maybe a shoulder, or the haunch. Not to rip or 
shred. Just to let him know that he had been caught.

     My nails stretched in anticipation.





30: To View What Fire



     Gina went low, a red snake against the snow. I went 
into the trees, from branch to branch. We moved quickly, 
circling to catch the old bastard by surprise. I thought 
about the bite, my nails holding him while Gina and I taught 
him that we were not cubs to be teased. The snow grew 
thicker, and I felt joy in it's cover.

     Gina and I reached the little valley at the same time. 
The old bastard was there, as I knew he would be, a grey 
smear drinking from a black circle in the otherwise frozen 
stream. Gina roared; I answered and leapt.

     But he was waiting. His grey shadow streaked up the 
side of the hollow and into the trees. Behind him came a 
storm of darts. I twisted while I fell, but it was not 
enough. A dart passed through my side, the burning pain 
curling me into a ball before I hit the frozen stream. I 
stood and roared, the black blood melting through the ice 
into the water below. I scooped the icy water and splashed 
it on my side until the blood stopped flowing and the skin 
began to heal.

     Gina had a dart through her paw. She pulled it out with 
her teeth, then roared as she shoved the wound deep into the 
icy stream. 'We need to be more careful,' I thought. Gina 
thought back, 'And more vicious, too.'

     And we were on the old bastard's trail again.



     The traps were clumsier, constructed in haste and 
poorly hidden.

     'Too easy,' Gina thought.

     'He's trying to make us careless,' I thought back.

     We moved off the trail. Gina again was a red streak on 
the ground. I again was in the trees. We no longer were 
following our quarry. We were racing to get ahead of him, to 
let him run into our jaws.



     The old bastard was trickier than we thought.
Gina and I were sure we were ahead of him. We waited for 
almost ten minutes but didn't see him.

     'Do you think he got ahead of us?' Gina thought.

     'Maybe. But he might still be back there somewhere. Or 
he could've taken another route. Heck, he might even have 
gone home.'

     'So do we go ahead, or go back?'

     'Guess we go back and try to find his trail.'

     'And how do we know when we find it?'

     'There'll be something there that can kill us.'



     We moved cautiously across the snow, probing for traps 
before every step. I suggested going home and just waiting 
for him to come looking for us. Then, when he showed up 
looking for us, we could say we got him. Gina argued that 
the OB probably would say that didn't count and would make 
us do this over and over until he decided we got it right. I 
didn't want to do this the first time, so I agreed to keep 
searching for him. But I was pretty sure that, if we didn't 
get this lesson right, we weren't going to be able to do it 
a second time. The old bastard was playing this one for 
keeps.



     The trap was like the first one, only put together in 
more of a hurry. It was easy to avoid the spear it threw, 
and I wasn't sure it would have done a lot of damage if we 
hadn't. It just plopped on the snow ahead of us, without 
enough force even to keep sliding.

     Gina and I decided to check it out, see if we could get 
any clues to the direction the old bastard was heading. We 
kept low as we crept toward it, just in case he still was 
around.

     'He must have been in a hurry,' Gina thought. 'He had 
enough creepers to tie it off right, but he never got to tie 
the second one on.'

     Gina picked up the second creeper.

     "Don't!" I shouted.

     When Gina picked up the vine, something caught her foot 
and yanked it into the air. I jumped on her as she swung 
past. I managed to cut the new vine before she swung very 
far. It was a good thing I did, because it would have swung 
her into a pile of brush.
When we moved the brush, we saw it hid about a dozen wooden 
spikes. If I hadn't stopped her, Gina would have slammed 
right into them.

     "Ohmigod, ohmigod," Gina kept saying. She was hugging 
herself and rocking back and forth, crying.

     "You're okay," I tried to calm her.

     "Why is he doing this? Don't we have enough trouble? 
Aren't the spooks enough? Why does he want to kill us?"

     "I don't know, Gina. Maybe he's not really trying to 
kill us. Maybe we're supposed to be learning something. 
Maybe he's just trying to make us be careful."

     "Careful?!" Gina was at the edge of becoming 
hysterical. "That bastard! I'll show him careful! When I get 
a hold of him, I'll rip his goddamn arms off!"



     We found another trap about 20 yards away. And there 
was another one about 35 yards after that. At least we now 
had a pretty good idea of where he was heading.



     Gina rushed back when I screamed.

     "Shit, that bastard," I was crying.

     "Don't pull it out, Rickie. Let's just get back to the 
house and let Dr. Wilson deal with it. If you pull it out, 
you could bleed to death."

     The little spear had passed right through my calf. 
There was about a foot of wood sticking out each side. I 
couldn't stand on that leg while that stick was stuck 
through it, and there was no way Gina was going to get me 
all the way home. She'd need her whole concentration just to 
get back herself. If she had to help me the whole way, we'd 
both be bleeding into the snow in a short time.

     After a few trials, I decided it hurt worse if I tried 
to pull the stick out from the side where it went in. And 
the other side was too slippery with blood for me to grab it 
well enough to pull. Finally I picked up a rock and slammed 
it against the back end, driving the stick as far as it 
would go. Then I used my shirt to grab the other end and 
pull it through.

     When the stick came out, my blood sprayed across the 
snow. I felt sick at my stomach and began to pass out.

     "It's okay, Rickie. Hang in there. I got this."

     Gina tied my shirt on my leg above the wound.
Then she melted snow in her hands and put it on the leg. The 
cold caused more pain than the stick had. But eventually she 
got enough water onto my leg for the bleeding to stop. I 
untied the shirt and started to help with the snow. It took 
a while, but we finally got enough water on the wound to 
heal it. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now.

     "When I catch that bastard, I'll..."

     "Relax, Gina. He probably wants us to get mad.
That way, we get careless. Besides, when we catch him, he's 
mine!"

     I didn't want to put my shirt back on because it had a 
lot of blood on it. But it was either wear it or freeze.



     The sticks had come right through Gina's shoe.
She screamed with each stick I pulled out. When the fifth 
and last was lying bloody on the snow, I helped her to the 
stream about six feet from the trap. I broke through the 
ice, then held Gina while she stuck her foot in the freezing 
water. When she started to heal, I broke another hole in the 
ice and soaked my calf some more. The water was so cold on 
my leg that it made my head ache. But I intended to be in as 
good a shape as possible when I caught up with that bastard.



     "This is ridiculous, Rickie. We can't just keep 
following his traps. If we try that, we're gonna hurt more 
than our legs. Maybe we'll lose something that we can't 
heal."

     "So what do we do?"

     "We gotta figure out where's he's going and get there 
first."

     "And what if he's not going anywhere? What if he's just 
leading us in circles till we get too tired to avoid those 
damned traps? What if there isn't any end to this?"

     "I think he's going somewhere. We haven't crossed our 
own path yet. If we were just going in circles, we would 
have done that. He's gotta be going somewhere."

     "Yeah. So how do we figure it out?"

     Gina looked at me, and I knew the answer as well as she 
did. But I didn't want to do that. I'd been fighting it for 
years, and I didn't want to lose it now. Damn the old 
bastard. What right did he have to make us do this? Damn 
him!



     We sat quietly on a log. I thought this was going to be 
easy, but it was the hardest thing we'd ever done. We had 
spent years keeping it buried; it wasn't going to just pop 
out in a minute. A big part of the problem was that we still 
were fighting it.

     We had to concentrate, which meant that we had to go 
back to the very first thing we learned. I stood on one leg, 
my good one, with my arms stretched out to the sides. Gina 
knelt with her knees together and her feet wide apart, her 
butt pushed into the snow between her legs.

     It took a long time for our minds to clear. We shut our 
eyes and stretched out with every other sense we had until 
we could feel the woods around us, smell the birds flying 
overhead. Slowly the blue knot untangled. Slowly.

     'Well. You know what they say,' Gina thought.

     'Gina! You are not going to spout philosophy from an 
old cartoon!'

     'It fits better than anything else I've found.
C'mon. You'll feel better.'

     'You are pure evil, Gina. Okay, one... two...'

     "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, 
Fred!" We shouted together.

     And it was done.

     There is nothing like the old classics for philosophy.



     Never before had I moved through branches like that. It 
was fast. It was easy. It was very, very quiet.

     Gina flowed over a rock, under a fallen tree. She was a 
pool of liquid red.



     There were booby traps in the trees, too. They weren't 
a concern. They couldn't hurt me. But I felt a need to 
dismantle them. Not that it slowed me down any. Besides, 
Gina was taking apart the ones on the ground. I didn't want 
to get too far ahead of her.



     The old bastard was 20 yards into the field when Gina 
and I reached the edge of the trees. I broke off a branch 
and sharpened the end, then threw it, pinning his heel to 
the ground.

     He pivoted, and his yellow blood sprayed across the 
snow. The steam rose around him as Gina's spear pinned his 
other foot to the ground. We leapt again, laughing and 
roaring.

     "Enough!" he shouted. "It is done."



     I stretched across the field, letting the snow cool my 
body. I played with the wisps of steam as they rose into the 
air. Gina was rolling on her back, laughing.

     "It is a fine thing, is it not, Lian hua? To see 
eternity before you?"

     "Oh, Master Li!" I shouted, then stopped in surprise 
because my voice had not changed.

     "Why didn't you tell us?" Gina asked.

     "And what is it that I could have said that you might 
have understood?" he said while he rubbed melted snow onto 
his feet.

     He was right. There was nothing he could have said that 
I would have understood. I laughed and rolled in the snow.

     "Let us run for a while, Lian hua. And then we will 
talk."



     We raced through the trees and along the ground, 
splashed through a lake, and flowed up hills.
Occasionally we would pass people, who looked into the sky 
and pulled their coats tighter against a coming storm. Birds 
jumped into the air as we passed and flew in circles around 
us, singing. Creatures in their winter sleep turned as we 
passed through their dreams.

     We settled back into the woods near where we first 
caught Master Li, filled with the comfort that follows 
exertion but not winded at all.

     "And now, Lian hua, let us take a few moments to listen 
to the world. And then there are decisions that must be 
made."

31: The Other Edge of Paradise



     I listened to the stream as it burbled around rocks 
beneath the ice. I punched a hole through the ice and leaned 
down to lap up the sweet water. Leaning back, I listened to 
the winter in the woods. Branches creaked in the cold, the 
wind rushed softly through the treetops, and birds chirped 
in the snow. If only Don and MJ could know this, I thought. 
And I watched the clouds whip across the sky.

     "And so, Lian hua, shall we go?"

     "No!" Gina said sharply. "We can't!"

     "You will not have another chance in this life."

     "We know," I answered. "But Gina's right. We can't. Not 
now."

     "If you stay, you will die."

     "We know," Gina whispered, and a large yellow tear slid 
off her cheek, hissing as it hit the snow.

     "We cannot help you in the end. You will be on your 
own."

     "We know," I said as I pulled myself into what I was. 
Into what I would be until the day I died.



     Gina and I stood beside the stream, holding each other 
and crying. I felt the tears freeze on my cheek and didn't 
care. It had been a glorious dream, but it wasn't our dream.

     "We should go home now," Master Li said. "Your friends 
will be worried that they will never see you again."

     Gina and I ran as fast as we could.



     "Are you disappointed in us, Master Li?"

     We were waiting while he dismantled a series of traps.

     "It was merely a test, Lian hua. It is one that we all 
have had to go through at one time."

     "And we failed."

     "Oh no, Lian hua. You are the only ones ever to pass. 
You have always passed."



     We stopped again just before we got to the fort.
Gina and I were a mess, and we wanted to straighten up a bit 
before we saw the others.

     "Rickie, your hair!"

     "Yeah, I know." There was a big chunk off the left 
side, stuck to a tree somewhere back in the woods. "I wanted 
to get it cut anyway. Just not a crew cut."

     "Let me." The old bastard grabbed my head before I 
could stop him.

     My scream brought everyone running.

     I managed to jump in front of the old bastard before 
Don smashed into him. Unfortunately, Don didn't stop. MJ was 
right after him, and she didn't stop, either. It might not 
have been so bad had the old bastard moved. But he didn't, 
and I felt like a test dummy between a car and a wall.

     "Rickie! Rickie, I'm sorry!"

     There were blurry shapes bobbing above me, and I 
guessed they were heads. One of them looked vaguely like 
Don's, so I wrapped my arms around it and kissed it.



     Don was carrying me into the house. My head had 
cleared, and I felt good enough to walk. But I wasn't stupid 
enough to tell him that.

     "Where?" Don grunted when we were inside.

     "Take her up to the shower," Gina ordered.

     "Yeah, shower," I said hopefully.

     Mom gave a couple of orders and followed us upstairs, 
which ruined everything.



     "Rickie! Your hair!"

     "Oh no! What did the old bastard do?" I squealed as I 
pulled my head from under the showerhead. Gina was giggling.

     "Aargh!" There was hair everywhere. I could have worn 
it down and no one would be able to tell if I was naked. 
"That idiot!"

     "I don't know, Rickie. It looks kinda cool."

     "So why don't you get him to fix yours?"

     "Uh uh. I got better things to do with my life than 
spend all of it on my hair."



     Every female in the house had to play with my hair. 
Even Slurp got into the act, stuffing wads of it in her 
mouth when Chrissie wasn't looking. It took a half-hour with 
four blow dryers just to get it to slightly damp. Then 
everyone grabbed combs and brushes and used them to yank my 
head from side to side.

     "Why don't you guys get yourselves some Barbie dolls 
and leave me alone," I pleaded.

     "I never had a Barbie doll," Terri said. "This is fun."

     "Just get the scissors so I can get rid of this mess."

     "Oh no, dear. Just keep it for a few days. You might 
like it."

     "Mo-om! What is it with you and my hair?"

     "Oh hush!" MJ scolded. "I like it."

     "Really, Rickie," Sarah said. "Most of the women on 
this planet would kill for this hair."

     "So call them up. I've got enough for all of them."

     "Shush," Nancy said, and she stuck a towel in my mouth. 
"Just let us play for a while, will ya?"



     With 12 women working on my head, you'd think they 
could get it done in less than two hours. All I could think 
of was how long it was going to take me when I had to do it 
myself. If I got up a couple of hours earlier, I might have 
it done in time to go to bed. Provided I didn't take any 
breaks for meals or going to the bathroom. I didn't care 
what anybody said. The first chance I got, I was cutting 
this off.



     "So what do you think?" Chrissie said as they stood me 
in front of my mirror.

     "It weighs more than I do!"

     "Nonsense, dear," Mom said. "Just try it for a while."

     I flopped back into my chair and almost broke my neck 
when I sat on my hair. Just what I needed, something else I 
had to move when I sat down. I had visions of what it would 
be like to use the bathroom and tried to snatch the scissors 
off my vanity. Mom was faster, mostly because my hair got in 
the way.



     "That's sick."

     "Sorry, Rickie. I really like it."

     Don pulled me in close for an amazing kiss.

     "Gee, Don. I guess you do." How much he liked it was 
really obvious.

     "So do I," MJ said. Then she grabbed my hair, pulled my 
head back, and bit my neck.

     It was incredible!



     "You guys get the stone room tonight," Gina said as I 
was changing my pants.

     "Why?"

     "'Cause you're a screamer, Rickie."

     "But I didn't... Well, _I_ did. But _we_ didn't..."

     "Uh huh."



     Okay, I'd keep the hair, at least for one night.
But if I caught it on one more doorknob, chair, refrigerator 
door, or anything else, it was coming off immediately.



     "Why don't you try a braid until you get used to the 
length, honey?"

     "Scissors would be a lot easier, Mom."

     "Just come with me. You're being unreasonable."

     "_I'm_ being unreasonable?"



     It was my worst fear. Twelve women decided to braid my 
hair. It took them 90 minutes, but they had to do it twice. 
And one kept trying to eat it.



     "Okay, so it's easier. It's still weird. And I really 
don't have the time to..."

     "Shush, honey. Just give it a week. That's all I ask."

     "A little while ago it was a couple of days." I knew 
better before I said that. I have no idea what made me move 
my mouth.

     "Yes, that was a little while ago, hon. Tomorrow we'll 
decide how long you should try it. When the...
the surprise has worn off."

     "Two days, Mom! I agreed to two days."

     "Yes, dear."

     Rats! She did it again. I was reasonably sure that I 
didn't agree to anything earlier. But I was stuck with it 
now. If I tried to go back on it, I'd wind up worse off.



     "Wow! Looks good!"

     That was exactly what Don should've said. It cheered me 
up immediately. I even felt playful, so I whipped the braid 
at his head.

     Fortunately, he got out of the way.

     Unfortunately, the kitchen door jamb did not. A rather 
large piece, right next to where Don's head had been, was 
now smashed in. There were large splinters sticking out at 
odd angles, so I was pretty sure it would not be a quick 
fix. Of course, that's when I smelled Dad's pipe.

     "Wider door?" he asked Mom.

     "At least four inches wider," she answered. "Six if you 
can do it."

     Dad puffed on his pipe. "I can go to eight if you'll go 
for doubles."

     "Double Dutch?"



     "I'm sorry, Don. Are you okay?"

     "Wow, Rickie! That's some hair!"

     "I didn't mean to..."

     "I really, really like it."

     "When I catch that old bastard, I'm gonna...
gonna... grrrrr."



     Slurp and Bug were ecstatic to see us. They had better 
be.

     "You hear that, Slurp?" Gina teased. "You better be."

     "They're glad you came back," Chrissie said. "I am, 
too."

     "We weren't gonna leave our squirts alone in the big 
bad world," I said, and gave Bug a raspberry on his tummy.

     He grabbed some loose strands of hair and stuck them in 
his mouth.



     "I'm glad you came back, too, Rickie."

     "I had to come back. You two were here."

     "Oh, Rickie," MJ cried and almost tackled me.

     When Don jumped in, over I went.



     'So, Rickie. You think we made the right choice?' Gina 
thought while she was wrapping herself tightly around Buck.

     'I don't know if it was the right one, but it sure is a 
good one.'



32: All for a Lullaby



     "Dinner's in a little while, kids."

     Rats! On the other hand, I was really hungry. I 
could've eaten a cow.

     'You almost did, Rickie,' Gina thought. 'Back when we 
were zipping over one of those fields.'

     'I wasn't really going to eat her. I was just teasing.'

     'She didn't think so.'

     'Yeah, well, thanks for stopping me. Imagine the diet 
I'd have to go on.'



     "It's changed again," MJ whispered.

     It had. Now there was no doubt that it was two girls, 
and that the girls were Gina and me. At least, from the 
waist up. And the stone looked even more clear than before.

     "That's the second time today," Buck said quietly.

     "What?"

     "We were in here before," Don explained. "It was 
different. It didn't look human. We thought we lost you."

     "Uh uh. I'm not going anywhere without you two.
You're stuck with me."



     I caught that stupid braid on the doorknob on the way 
out of the stone room and almost broke my neck.
Two days, and then I was hacking it off.



     "Why don't you kids sit and relax till dinner's ready," 
Mom said. "You've all had a pretty rough day."

     'You don't know the half of it,' Gina thought.

     'Oh yes, I certainly do,' Mom answered.

     Damn! I always thought she could do that.

     But then I realized what Mom just told us. But the old 
bastard told us that we were the only two ever to pass that 
test. Which meant...

     'Damn!' Gina thought, which about said it all.



     "We'll take them, Chrissie."

     "They have to be burped."

     "That's okay. Just let us get a couple of bigger 
towels."



     "Not on the hair!"

     I got it out of the way just in time.

     "If I had to wash it again, Bug, you would be in 
serious trouble."

     Bug smiled, then stuffed a wad of hair in his mouth.



     "Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the 
everywhere into here. Where did you get your eyes so blue? 
Out of the sky as I came through."

     Bug fell softly asleep. I could have put him down, but 
I didn't want to. I just kept singing, watching him smile.

     'We couldn't leave our little stinkpots,' Gina thought. 
'Not even for a million years.'

     The squirts gurgled in their dreams.



     "So what did you two do today?" Janice whispered.
She was too curious to wait, but she didn't want to wake the 
squirts.

     Bug started to stir, and he grabbed my sweater.

     "Tell you later," I mouthed, then tried to rock Bug 
back to sleep. Then Mom called us to dinner, and Bug and 
Slurp woke up screaming. They grabbed tightly to our 
sweaters and wouldn't let us put them down.

     "We'll take them," Miss Harris and Mrs. McGreal 
offered. But the squirts were turning blue. It was an awful 
trick, and I was pretty mad at them for pulling it. But it 
worked.



     "Those two seem to have attached themselves to you 
pretty tight."

     "I'm sorry, Chrissie."

     "Why? I'm not. I'm glad."

     "But... I mean..."

     "I know, Rickie. But I can't teach them everything they 
need. Nobody else can, either. Not even Mom and Dad. You two 
are the best aunts a pair of spoiled little squirts can 
have. So let's go get some dinner."

     "But..."

     "Shh. Just think of it as payback for all the years I 
babysat you two."

     "Gee," Gina said. "I think we're getting the better end 
of the deal."

     "Hey, wait a minute. We were perfect kids!"

     "Sure, Rickie," Chrissie laughed. "You know, I forgot 
to tell Dad who set all the plastic bowls on fire that 
time."

     "Okay. Maybe not perfect."



     It wasn't hard to eat with Bug in one arm. Or, at 
least, it wouldn't have been if MJ and Don would stop trying 
to help me. Gina only had Buck, so she was able to chase him 
away with her fork. But as soon as I swatted Don away, MJ 
would move in from the other side. I would have complained, 
but Mom told me to get used to it.

     Dinner was very loud. Even with all the extra leaves in 
the table, it wasn't big enough for all of us. But everybody 
crowded into the dining room anyway, all talking at once. 
The squirts' eyes were wide, and they were taking in 
everything with that wonder only an infant has. Well, maybe 
not just infants, since it looked great to me, too.

     "So what did you guys do all day?" Janice asked.

     "Learned how to avoid traps," Gina said. "There were 
traps everywhere, each worse than the others."

     "The last trap was the worst," I added. "We almost 
didn't get out of it."

     "So how did you get out of it?" Buck asked.

     I looked into Bug's eyes. They were so huge and dark 
blue and wonderful that I felt I could fall into them 
forever.

     "We just remembered all the reasons we had to get 
home," Gina explained.



     Detective Adler came in while we were eating. Dad 
invited him to sit, but he wanted to talk to Buck.
When Buck came back to the table, he had a grim smile.

     "We've got to get in touch with those friends of 
yours," he said. "As soon as they're ready, we're gonna 
flush a bear."



     "Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the 
everywhere into here. Where did you get your eyes so blue? 
Out of the sky as I came through."

     "Great, Rickie. Let's get them up to bed before they 
wake up."



     "So, Gina, what else they teach at that school of 
yours?"

     "I'm not sure. I guess we'll have to find out."

     "Well, there's the sappers," Sparks said.

     "The what?"

     "Sophomore chemistry. Those kids can blow up anything."



     "Uh, Mrs. A., we're not going to school tomorrow, 
right?"

     "Bryan, you have to go to school sometime."

     "Yeah, I know. But we really need another day."

     "Very well, dear."



     "So let's watch a movie."

     "What's on?"

     "Hey, porno!" Jim laughed.

     Janice kept him in a head lock long enough for Terri to 
get the remote. Bryan made a grab for it, but Terri tossed 
it over to Dana, where it was safe. For some reason, the 
guys weren't eager to help us change the channel.



     "Don't say it, Bryan."

     "Gee, I wasn't going to say anything."

     "Yes you were. You were about to say something about 
Repunzel."

     "Well, if the comb fits..."

     Bryan got only a few steps before I had him down, 
poking him mercilessly.



     "Anybody seen Derek and Dana?"

     We all gave Jim the moron look.



     Buck and Ira Adler talked to Miss Chance for a long 
time. The detective kept getting angry, so Buck took the 
phone. When they were finished, they came into the living 
room.

     "It's set for tomorrow morning at 6:00. So we better 
get some sleep."

     "Jeez, Buck," Don complained. "Can't you plan these 
things for a reasonable hour? What's wrong with, say, 
10:00?"

     "I... I..."

     "At least after breakfast," Sparks said.

     "But I thought..."

     "Sure you did," Terri scolded. "Next time, ask people 
before you schedule something at a ridiculous hour."

     "But I wanted to get him before he was fully awake!"

     "Yeah? And how do you know he doesn't wake at 5:00? 
Maybe he stays up all night and would be just getting sleepy 
at 9:00," Bryan argued.

     "Besides," Jim added, "Why would you pick a time when 
_we_ weren't fully awake?"

     "Really, Buck," I teased. "It could've been noonish, 
you know."



     "So I guess we oughta do a quick run."

     "Make it a slow one," MJ yawned. "I'm worn out."

     "You? What did you do all day?"

     "I had to sit around and worry all day while you were 
out playing," MJ scolded. "Sure, just go out and play with 
your little friend. Never a thought for me."

     "Oh, stop whining."

     "C'mon, you two," Gina whined. "Let's get this over 
with. Save that till we get back."



     "Hey, Dana. Where've you been?"

     "Shush, Terri, or I'll stick your head in the snow."

     "Gotta catch me first!"



     "Damn, Dana! You got snow up my nose!"



     "Hold it, folks. I think this is new blood."

     "That's okay, Dana. It's mine."

     "No, Rickie," Gina said. "That's mine. Yours is further 
on."

     "Ohmigod," MJ squeaked. "What did you two do?"

     "Just giving you something to worry about."



     "I've got the bedroom tonight, Rickie."

     "Let's flip a coin."

     "Okay. Heads or tails?"

     "Wait a minute. You got that from Terri!"

     "Sure. Wanna check it first?"

     "You're a mean and nasty sister."



     Don and MJ slowly unwrapped the braid. As it came 
loose, my whole body relaxed. Every inch was like another 
tight muscle letting go. It felt wonderful. I had no idea 
that hair could feel so good. I wish I had been able to stay 
awake till they were finished.


33: For This, the Wild Geese



     "Rickie, wake up."

     Something was all over me. I grabbed it to fight it 
off. But it was just that damned hair.

     "Ga, what time is it?"

     "It's 4:00, Rickie. I thought we'd give ourselves some 
extra time so we could fix your hair."

     I looked back at the mattress, and Don was still 
asleep. Sure, guys have it easy. I thought seriously about 
kicking him.

     "Jeez, I can't even take a shower. It'd take too long 
to dry this."

     "How many showers you take a day, Rickie?"

     "On a good day, one. But it takes 12 hours."

     "So take a bath. You can hang your hair out of the 
tub."

     "I could just cut it all off."

     "Stop whining. Besides, you promised your mom you'd 
give it a week."

     "A week? I don't remember saying a week."

     "Stop whining, Rickie."



     Thank god Mom had the coffee going.

     "So we should get the call soon," Buck said far too 
cheerily.

     "Then what do we do?"

     "We go get him."

     "We go get him?" Bryan said a bit too loudly.
"Why do _we_ have to get him?"

     "You wanna wait till he comes here?"

     "Uh, that depends. Will I be here when he does?"

     "You don't have to be."

     "Yeah I do. 'Sides, I was here first. After the twins, 
that is."

     "No you weren't."

     "Was too!"

     "Boys!" Gina shouted. "If you can't play nicely, you 
have to go to your rooms."

     "Good idea," Sparks mumbled. "Can I be sent to my room, 
too?"



     Buck was at the phone when it rang. After a minute or 
two, he said thanks and hung up. Then he pulled a piece of 
paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and dialed a number.

     "Mr. Adler?... Yeah, they did it... Meet you there."

     He hung up and called, "Three cars, guys. Derek, me, 
and Sparks. Let's go."

     He was out the door before the rest of us had a last 
sip of coffee.



     I guess the idea was that we were supposed to run 
outside, jump into the cars, and take off at high speed. But 
Sparks had to go into the tower and find his keys. When he 
came back out, the rest of us still were arguing about who 
was going in which car.

     It should have been fairly easy. There were 17 of us, 
which meant six each in Derek's and Sparks' rides and five 
in Buck's. But Caitlin and Heather didn't want to sit on the 
floor in the back of Sparks' van.
Neither did Nancy and Janice. On the other hand, Bryan and 
Jim did want to ride with Sparks. Nancy was arguing with 
Bryan, Jim was arguing with Janice, and Manny was shouting 
something in Spanish to a completely bewildered Gordon. Buck 
was arguing with everybody, trying to tell them where to go; 
but no one was paying any attention to him. MJ, Don, and I 
slipped into the back of Buck's jeepster and argued with 
Gina about what to put on the stereo.

     "Don't happen to have 'Ride of the Valkyries' in there, 
do you?" Don asked.

     Gina thought briefly about hitting him with the CD 
case. Instead, she found an oldies collection, selected that 
Barry McGuire song she'd been listening to so much lately, 
and hit the endless repeat button.
When Don started to protest, she just glared at him. I 
thought briefly about helping Don out, but there was no way 
I was going to argue with Gina when she was in that mood.

     "Ga, Gina," Buck complained when he finally slipped 
behind the wheel. "You know, there's other songs on that 
disc."

     "No. There isn't," she said firmly.

     Buck knew her well enough to shut up.



     Gina was on the headset, chatting with Terri and Dana 
and occasionally giving directions to Buck. Buck was droning 
on endlessly about what we were going to do, including a 
hundred different alternatives in case something completely 
impossible happened. I just cuddled with MJ and Don and fell 
asleep.



     "Rickie, wake up. We're here."

     "What? Where the heck is here?"

     We were on the side of a small road in the woods.
What might have been a dirt road under the lumpy snow ran 
beneath low trees up the side of a hill. There were two sets 
of tracks on the road.

     "One's an SUV," Dana said. "The other's an old pickup."

     "How do you know it's old?" Caitlin asked.

     "It dropped rust when it scraped the snow."

     "So do we follow them up?" Sparks asked Buck.

     "Nah. He might be expecting that. Can't tell what he 
might have left in the road."

     "We can," Gina said. I followed her, running up the 
road with MJ and Terri behind us and the guys yelling at us 
from the cars.



     "Well, these are nasty," Gina said. She was holding a 
bent piece of black steel with sharp edges.

     "Caltrops," Terri said. "They'll rip up your tires if 
you drive over them."

     "Won't do a lot of good to your feet, either," I added.



     There was a short squeak from the woods to our right.

     "I'm okay," Dana called.

     "I'm not!" Bryan shouted from our left.



     We found Bryan holding onto a small tree with his feet 
in the air, caught in a snare. After Nancy cut him down, I 
showed him the spikes he would have swung into. So much for 
Buck's idea of avoiding traps by sticking to the woods 
beside the road.

     "Just stay behind us on the road," Gina ordered.
When Buck finally nodded, she added, "Well behind us."



     The traps were ridiculous. Trip wires buried clumsily 
in the snow, more caltrops, and a snare that would have had 
a hard time catching a blind rabbit. In addition, almost 
everything was made from metal, plastic, or rope, stuff that 
stood out in these woods like an elephant in a kennel.

     Gina and I decided to have a little fun and set up a 
trap of our own.

     "Why two?" Buck asked while we were carefully 
explaining how to avoid it.

     "First one takes out a tire," Gina explained.
"Second one gets him if he gets out of his car to see what 
happened."

     "Shouldn't it be higher?" Caitlin asked.

     "We don't want to kill him," I said. "Just slow him 
down a bit."



     "Which way?" MJ asked when we reached a fork in the 
road.

     "Follow the tracks."



     "Damn, it's an airfield."

     We were on the top of a ridge, looking into a wide 
valley. At the bottom was a long strip of cleared asphalt 
with a plane at one end. Next to the plane was the SUV. 
Sparks passed a small pair of binoculars to Buck.

     "Can't see anybody around," Buck said. "Why didn't he 
just take off?"

     "Maybe another trap," Gordon warned.

     "Let's go real slow," Buck ordered.



     There were a lot more traps. Apparently they had been 
constructed long before and were set quickly as the creep 
went down the road. Some of the traps were frozen and 
wouldn't have worked. Some were covered in crusted snow. 
They were easy to disarm, but it was slow going.

     "I don't like it," Buck said. "He's just sitting there, 
waiting for us."

     "What's he doing?" Don asked.

     "I can't tell. The windows are all dark, even the 
windshield. But the car's running, and there's nothing else 
moving."

     "More spooks?"

     "Maybe. But I don't see any footprints except around 
the car. It doesn't look like anybody else has been here 
since the last snow."

     "Great," Don spat. "I hate worrying about stuff I can't 
see."



     "You know," MJ whispered as we crept down the road. 
"There's something seriously wrong with us."

     "You just figuring that out?" Gina chuckled dismally.

     "So what?" Terri said. "You'd rather be sitting around 
worried about what you'll wear to the next dance?"

     "Yes!" we all answered at once.



     When we tripped the wire, about a dozen metal arrows 
shot across the road, thumping into the trees on the other 
side.

     "You know," Terri said, "There's something seriously 
wrong with us."



     "I really don't like this," Buck whispered. "He's not 
moving at all."

     We were squatting in the bushes at the edge of the 
field. The SUV still was just sitting there, the exhaust a 
white cloud rising straight up in the still, cold air.

     "He's sprayed something on the windows so we can't see 
in. It has to be a trap."

     "We see," Manny said. He had a crossbow he had taken 
from one of the traps on the road. He aimed carefully and 
shot a bolt into the driver's door.
There was a loud thump as the bolt hit, but nothing else 
happened.

     "So we just run across?"

     "Let's go slow," Buck said. "He doesn't seem to be 
going anywhere. But don't touch anything."



     It wasn't paint sprayed on the inside of the car.
I was a bit relieved that I was still able to vomit.

     "What the hell could do that?" Gordon gasped.

     "Something that didn't want us catching this creep," 
Buck said angrily. "Something that didn't want it answering 
any questions."

     "The pickup went up the other road," Dana pointed out.

     "Let's just get back," Buck said. "We won't catch him."



     The other road circled back to the one we walked up, 
meeting at the fork we noticed earlier. A little further on, 
we came to Gina's and my trap.

     "You got him," Dana said. With all the blood on the 
snow, she didn't have to tell us. "After you hit him, he 
just kept driving on the flat."

     "He can't get far," Bryan said.

     "He's had enough time to get as far as he needs," Buck 
said angrily. "Let's get home."



     "You know," Heather whispered. "There's something 
seriously wrong with us."




34: Nothing But a Smile




     "Damn! My parents," Don said.


     "When was the last time you talked to them?"


     "Uh, I forget. How long have we been camped out here?"


     "You moron. You could at least have called your mom!"


     "Damn!" Buck said.


     "Not you, too," Gina scolded.




     The first thing Mrs. V. did was grab Don in a hug. Then 
she started yelling at him. Finally she dragged him into the 
stone room. We could hear her from the living room, so she 
must have been really loud.


     After about three minutes, the door opened and Mrs. V. 
stuck her head out.


     "Rickie! Get in here!"


     Damn.




     "I expect it from this idiot," Mrs. V. lectured.
"But I expect more from you, Rickie."


     "I'm sorry."


     "Just a phone call to let me know you're all right. Do 
you know how frantic I've been?"


     "I'm sorry."


     "I can't believe you two. All wrapped up in everything, 
but not a thought about how the rest of us might be 
feeling!"


     "I'm sorry."


     "And another thing..."


     "I'm sorry."




     When we finally got out of there, which felt like three 
years later, there was a line at the phone. Buck was first.


     "I'm sorry," he was saying.




     "They're beautiful!" Mrs. V. gushed, then started with 
the baby talk.


     I couldn't decide whether Chrissie had brought them 
down just to distract Don's mom. If she had, she was 
brilliant.




     Buck's mom drove over as soon as Buck was off the 
phone. She was busy lecturing Gina in the stone room.


     MJ was trying to tell her mom that she didn't have to 
come to the fort. It wasn't working. Her mom wanted to talk 
to both of us.


     "Why me?"


     "She says that you, at least, should've known better."




     Nancy's mom was busy lecturing Bryan in the stone room, 
and Mrs. White was scolding Terri in the dining room. That 
meant MJ's mom had to yell at me in the living room. The 
rest of the kids were hiding in the basement.




     "So we're not really sure it's safe yet." Buck had 
given a heavily edited version of the past week to the 
assembled parents. It was amazing how he could make 
everything that happened sound so simple and easy. Gina and 
I decided that would be his regular job.


     "And just when will you know?" Mrs. V. asked.


     "Well, I'd like us to stay another night. Then meet 
here after school tomorrow."


     "School?" Sparks started to protest, but a glare from 
his mom turned it into a squeak.


     "Yeah. If you folks would form like a phone tree, you 
could get to all of us pretty quickly if anything happened 
during the day." Buck was forming strategies again.


     "You need anything from home, Daedalus?"


     "I better get it, Mom."


     "I think I can still drive!"


     "Remember the mailbox, Mom?"


     "Oh, and I need some clothes," MJ said, which reminded 
all of us how bad we smelled. "And maybe a quick shower with 
real, honest-to-god hot water."


     "Travel in groups, kids," Mr. V. ordered. "Nobody goes 
alone until we say it's okay." Then he winked at Don, which 
I couldn't figure out.




     As we were piling into cars, the firewood guy pulled up 
with another load of logs. Bryan started chanting, "Par-ty, 
par-ty," until Nancy thwacked him on the head.


     "Oh, yes. What I meant to say was a convivial 
convocation accompanied by various melodies and 
refreshments, combined with a certain pyrotechnic display."


     Nancy thwacked him again.




     "Will you two stop it!"


     Don's car was not made for three people. And for some 
reason, MJ decided she would sit on my lap, even though she 
was a lot bigger than me. So I decided to tickle her.


     "C'mon, stop it," Don complained. "I'll have an 
accident."


     "That's no problem," MJ said. "You're getting a change 
of clothes anyway."


     "Look, he blushes. That's so cute."




     "Oh ho," MJ said. "The scene of the crime."



     "What?"


     "Oh nothing. I just never saw your room before."


     "At least you made your bed," I observed.


     Don got a shocked look, which quickly turned into a 
guilty one.


     "Oh no! Don, you promised!"


     "I, uh, never got a chance to do it."


     "Do-on!"




     "Will you two stop it!"


     At least I was sitting on top on the ride to MJ's.




     "Well, I'm going to take a shower. A hot one."


     "Uh, I'll wait here," Don said.


     Ga, he could be so dense sometimes.




     "I _hate_ this hair!"


     "Shush. Don, you start drying while I get my mom's blow 
dryer."


     "Let me get something on first."


     "Shush."




     It took them forever to braid my hair. It could have 
gone a lot quicker, but we got distracted.




     "Oh, god. We better get back to the fort."


     "In a minute. You look really good like that."


     I tried to cover myself with the sheet, but they had me 
outnumbered.




     "Uh, I think I better take another shower before we go 
back."


     "Great. Don, get the blow dryers."


     "Can't we do something to keep my hair dry?"


     "Sure. Let me find a garbage bag."




     "This hair is coming off tomorrow."


     "No, Rickie, please. You promised."


     "MJ, I said two days. And I was tricked into that."


     "But we like it."


     "You don't have to live with it. The car door was the 
last straw."


     "Please?"


     "No. Absolutely not!"




     "Mom, shouldn't there be some kind of rule about how 
many of these Dad can do in a month."


     "Now, Rickie. Besides, I thought you liked these."


     "I do. It's just that, I mean, with everything that's 
happened, I was hoping for a quiet night, just plopped in 
front of the tube or something."


     "I know, honey. But your father wants to celebrate."


     "What's he celebrating?"


     "Why, you, of course. We're very proud of you and 
Gina."


     "Why? What did we do?"


     "Rickie." Mom stopped stirring and grabbed my 
shoulders. "You know what you did. You and Gina made a very 
hard and very grown-up decision. You two gave up a lot to 
help others. You are very special; and we're very, very 
proud."


     "I don't know, Mom. I'm not sure. I mean, the squirts. 
And Don and MJ. And Buck. We love them, Mom.
Really. And our friends. We just didn't want to give them 
up. We... I... Well, Gina and I, we just didn't want to lose 
that. It was kinda selfish, really."


     "I know, dear. And that's why we're so proud of you."




     "I don't know, Don. You know what it's like when 
everything changes? When everything you thought you knew 
turns out to be wrong? And then you think you've got it all 
figured out, and you're still wrong?"


     "Yeah. That pretty much describes everything since I 
met you, Rickie."


     "I'm sorry."


     "Don't be. My dad says, well..."


     "What's he say?"


     "Well, mostly he says I'm an idiot."


     "That's not true!"


     "Sometimes it is. But he says that sometimes you gotta 
be an idiot. Just to do the right thing.
Sometimes you gotta forget what your brain says is smart and 
just march right in and do what has to be done. He says you 
can't think about the future or the past, just about what 
has to be done right at that moment and that, for me, life 
might be a succession of those moments. You know what I 
mean?"


     "No."


     "Yeah, I'm not sure I do, either. It's just that you 
and me and Buck and Gina and all, we're different.
We're not like other kids. I wish we were. But we're not, 
and we're not ever gonna be. So when this weird shit comes 
up, we just gotta do what we see is right, right at that 
moment. But we're kinda lucky, too."


     "Lucky?"


     "Yeah, Rickie. Imagine what it would be like if we had 
to do this alone. I mean, I can't talk about this stuff with 
anybody in my school. They'd think I was crazy. But I got 
you, and that makes it all right.
Just, well, look at us. We're a pretty weird bunch."


     "That's for sure."


     "Yeah. But we all have someone, and we all got each 
other. You know, I look at the kids in my school, even the 
really popular ones, and most of them are pretty lonely all 
the time, you know? We're the only kids I know that aren't, 
and we're a pretty weird bunch of misfits. It's like my dad 
said..."


     "I love you, Don."


     "Yeah, I know. When... well, when I was home after the 
last time, my dad asked me why I did all this. He asked me 
if I was just trying to be brave, or if I liked the 
excitement, or something. It was one of my dad's 'think 
before answering' questions, so I did.
I finally told him that I did it just because I love you, 
that I didn't think of any other reason until after. I guess 
that was the right answer, because he told me he was proud 
of me. And that was kinda nice.
But even then, it was more important because I love you, and 
I know I'm doing the right thing."


     "Oh, Don, thank you!"


     I kissed him before he could say anything else.
What Mom said was nice, but it hadn't convinced me that Gina 
and I didn't make some awful mistake.




     "Rickie."


     "Oh, hi, Mom."


     "Come in and help with things when you have a minute, 
hon. And Mrs. Kramer needs to talk with you and Gina 
tonight."





35: A Mouthful of Air




     "Ga, Mom, what's all this?"


     "You're father decided to grill fish tonight. I'm just 
trying to come up with something to put it on."


     "I don't get it. Why the boards?"


     "Just take them to your father, hon. You'll see."




     "Uh, Dad? Aren't you supposed to cut those into steaks 
or something? At least take the heads and tails off?"


     "Rickie, you sound just like your mother."


     "Uh, okay. But wouldn't they cook quicker if they were, 
like, under four feet long?"


     "Don't exaggerate. They're only a little over three 
feet."




     "So, Mom. Do you think he at least took the scales off 
first?"


     "Oh god, I hope so!"




     Gina got stuck with stirring the angel hair. The pot 
Mom was using was so big that Gina had to stand on a stool 
while she stirred. The steam made her hair go limp and stood 
in beads on her face. Even though I had to steam and chop 
the clams for the sauce, which was a pretty smelly job, I 
was glad I wasn't stirring the pasta.


     Mom decided to let me make the clam sauce. I never made 
it by myself before, so Mom stood over my shoulder for the 
first few minutes to tell me if I was doing anything wrong. 
But then she went off to do something else.


     While the first of the clams were steaming, I started 
to clean and chop some shrimp. MJ came in to see if she 
could help, so I tricked her into the job I really hated.


     "Mind mincing the garlic, MJ?"


     "Sure. You do the nice, clean shrimp, and I wind up 
smelling like garlic all night."


     "Okay. I'll mince the garlic. You clean and mince the 
clams."


     "I think I've just been had."




     "So how do I know they're done, Rickie?"


     "Wait till they're open. When they open up, take them 
out and put some more in."


     "How many we making?"


     "Enough for a small city or two. And don't throw out 
the juice. We need that."




     Buck and Don drained the pasta for Gina, then she 
started a second pot. Gordon took over the clams for MJ 
while Manny chopped enough parsley to feed a herd of cows 
and I started the garlic in the olive oil.


     I think that was my favorite part of cooking, the first 
minute the garlic hits the pot. The smells change so 
rapidly, and the garlic sizzles in the oil; and I could 
tell, right at the end of that minute, whether the sauce 
would be good or not. This night the tiny bubbles rose 
evenly through the oil, instead of gathering at the sides of 
the pot and on the pieces of garlic; and the steam rising 
out of the pot was soft and warm, almost sweet. In those 
first moments, I almost forgot there was anyone else in the 
kitchen.


     I began to move toward the island, but Manny was 
already at my side with the parsley. Gordon had the pot of 
clam juice; and while the parsley was spreading through the 
oil, I added a bit of oregano to the juice. And then, on a 
whim, I added the tiniest bit of pepper, just so the sauce 
wouldn't be completely overpowered by the fish.


     I poured the juice into the pot slowly, carefully 
moving the wooden spoon so the juice moved in soft swirls 
through the oil. It was beautiful, like wisps of smoke or 
twining flowers. As the clam juice spread quietly through 
the oil, I could _feel_ the steam take on a sharper edge.


     I didn't even have to move my arm before MJ handed me 
the huge glass jug of Mr. Salvatore's homemade dry white 
wine. Just a little, and another color seeped slowly through 
the oil. The steam drifted through the room like a dream 
from another world, already only half-remembered. It was 
wistful, and smooth.


     At the right moment, the clams and shrimp slid quickly 
into the mixture, moving in rapid jerks around the pot as 
soon as they touched the sauce.


     When it was finished, it was like waking up.




     "What? What's wrong?"


     Everybody -- and that was at least 40 people -- 
absolutely everybody in the house was in the kitchen or 
stacked in the doorways just outside. They made a sort of 
half-rectangle around those of us who were cooking. 
Surrounded by quiet faces on two sides and huge platters and 
bowls of food on the others, Don and MJ, Gina and Buck, 
Manny and Gordon just stared back.
I was in the middle with the wooden spoon in my hand.
I had no idea what was going on, but I had to get to the 
refrigerator.


     A path cleared for me before I took a second step. It 
was like watching water flow backward.


     "What? What I do?"


     Bug, of course, knew what to say. Count on my favorite 
nephew for putting things in perspective. He made his 
filling the diaper sound.




     "Jeez! I forgot the fish!" Dad pushed his way through 
the crowd. We could hear him stomping out the back door.


     "It's perfect!" he shouted from the back yard.
"Absolutely perfect timing!"




     "Mmmphlpg!" Cheryl said, then swallowed another bite of 
her second plate of pasta. "This is really good!"


     I was pretty worried. I hadn't made nearly enough 
sauce. The pasta was gone, and those who still were hungry 
were starting on the fish. I thought the pasta was going to 
be only a side dish. I had thought I had made too much.


     I had big seconds of the fish. It really was perfect; I 
never tasted anything like it. I didn't bother with the 
pasta because I knew that sauce as it grew from a splash to 
a simmer. I couldn't know it any better if I had eaten three 
bowls. But I had never tasted something as perfect as that 
fish.


     Dad didn't bother to talk before finishing his second 
plate of pasta. When he did, he sat back slowly, took a sip 
of Mr. Salvatore's wine, and vaguely waved the glass at the 
empty bowls. "Perfect," he whispered.


     I guess Dad knew that fish like I knew the sauce and, 
no matter how much I ate, he still would know that fish 
better than I did. So I leaned forward and took a tiny sip 
of wine, then leaned back in my chair and looked across the 
table.


     Mr. Salvatore's voice boomed from the other end of the 
table, "I always say it is good luck to be in a house with 
twins!"




     Mr. Zagief insisted on helping Gina and me with the 
dishes. "But surely I can do this, princesses.
After all, tonight I have seen what I wanted since I first 
heard of you two. And that has been a very long time."


     "Yeah, but... See, we don't have to clean them.
We cooked. This is Sarah and Tom's night to clean them, and 
we're trying to get back at them for the last mess they left 
us."


     "Well, that _is_ a different story. Then I suppose we 
should return to the others and let Sarah and Tom tremble in 
anticipation of the torture that awaits them."


     "Yeah. Exactly."




     "So, Rickie." The judge made it sound like an 
announcement. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"


     Sheesh. My toes were blushing. I thought I had gotten 
over that years before.


     "Umm, Mom taught me to cook."


     "That's not where you got that 80 proof delight," Tom 
offered unhelpfully.


     "No. That was Mrs. Kramer."


     "Or those pear tarts you make," Cheryl chimed in.
I figured of all the people who were there, she would be one 
with more sense than to say something like that.


     "No... That's from Janice..."


     "Not like those," Janice piped up. "I've watched you a 
dozen times at least, and I still can't figure out what you 
do."


     "Uh... But..."


     "They're right, dear," Mom said. "You _are_ very good."


     "But I can't even read a recipe, Mom. If I can't watch 
someone make it, I can't do it."


     "That's true," Gina said. "You should see some of the 
awful stuff we tried to make from cookbooks."


     "So what do you do to those tarts?" Janice asked.


     "Nothing. Really. I just wait till the steam changes 
color, then take them out."


     "Until the _steam_ changes color?"




     "Those tarts sound wonderful," Mr. Salvatore boomed in 
what I suppose was supposed to be a whisper.
There was a groan of assent from somewhere on the other side 
of the room.


     "We have some very nice pies," Mom said cheerily.
The mood of the room picked up in the way it can do only 
when dessert is offered.


     "Who baked them?" Dad whispered as we were getting up 
to fetch the pies.


     Mom carefully picked a spoon from the table, whacked 
Dad on the top of his head, and put the spoon down 
carefully. Aunt Keiko also used it to thwack Dad's poor 
head. Gina and I thought briefly about picking up the spoon. 
But even though it was offered, we decided it would be a bad 
idea. Dad deserved it; but when you're the smallest people 
in the house, next to two babies, you tend to pick the form 
of your moral statements a lot more carefully. Fortunately, 
Chrissie reached over and did it for us.


     As we were grabbing the pies, we tried to decide whose 
laugh had been loudest when we walked out gracefully: Dad, 
Mr. Salvatore, or Mr. Zagief. It was hard to tell, so we 
gave the tie to Dad and Mr.
Zagief.




     Everybody gushed about the pie. The pies really were 
excellent, but I got the impression that most of the men in 
the room had a trace of exaggerated enthusiasm. For one 
thing, they all kept their spoons tucked safely away.




     "Willie! Why aren't you guys here for the barbecue?"


     "Sorry, kid. Is Barney there?"


     "No. What's wrong?"


     "Probably nothing."


     "Willie! Don't do this."


     "No, really, kid. He called me to say he might have to 
fade for a bit. He was gonna try to get to your house first, 
but he said he could be away for a month or so, not to 
worry."


     "Where'd he go?"


     "Hey, Rickie. When a guy says he has to fade, you don't 
ask a question like that on the phone. You don't even ask me 
if I asked it. And I wouldn't of.
Definitely not on the phone."


     "Okay, sorry. I just meant has he done this before? 
Should we be worried?"


     "Nah. I doubt it. Barney goes on these 'vacations' 
every now and then. It used to be he'd be gone a couple of 
months at a time, though he hasn't done that in a couple of 
years. He just hops in that beat-up truck and goes off 
somewhere. When he comes back, the truck is even more beat 
up. And old, fat Barney's got that same evil grin. So I 
wouldn't worry."


     "Yeah, well... I don't really feel worried. You know? I 
feel kinda pleasant. But I got this nagging idea that I 
really should feel worried, even though I don't."


     "You okay, kid?"


     "Yeah. I'm fine. Why?"


     "You had a refill on that big mug with the face on it?"


     "No! I haven't... Well, I did have a glass of wine."


     "A whole glass, kid?"


     "Okay. So it doesn't take much. I'm a cheap date."


     "I'd bet real money against that, kid."


     So I could blush twice in one night. If that habit was 
coming back, I'd have to seriously do something.


     "Okay, Willie. Anyway, I'm gonna ask someone what they 
think; and if they're not worried, I'll feel a lot better 
about it. But call me if anything comes up."




     "Hey, Derek. Any feelings?"


     "Yeah. But I'm not worried about anything."


     "Relieved?"


     "Sort of. It's like, I don't know. It's okay.
It's just not great. You know?"


     'Thank god for small victories,' Gina thought, then 
rolled her eyes.


     'Yeah,' I answered. 'But what's the probability of 
winning _all_ the small victories?'




     Buck was staring into his empty pie plate, thinking 
furiously. He didn't look thrilled. But he also didn't look 
as gloomy as he usually did when he sat like that. I took 
that as a good sign.







36: The Moon's Dark Path




     "So why'd Barney go on the lam?" Bryan asked.


     "'On the lam'? Bryan, nobody says, 'on the lam.' 
Nobody's said that for like a century."


     "Okay. So why's he hiding? And did he take a roscoe 
with him?"


     "Roscoe?"


     "Gee, Rickie. If your gonna hang out with people who go 
on the lam, the least you can do is learn the lingo."


     "Lingo?"




     "Don! Let go of my hair!"


     "Sorry. Couldn't resist."


     "What do I look like, a pull toy?"


     It took me a while to realize why MJ was laughing. Don 
jumped out of reach just in time, so I chased him through 
the living room. I'd show him a pull toy.




     "So is it our turn for the bedroom?" Don whispered 
after I caught him.


     "It's not gonna be a good night, Don."


     "Why? After that dinner, I bet everybody sleeps."


     "Uh, the moon's full tonight."


     "What's that got to do... oh."


     "Sorry."


     "That's okay. You know, I could give you a back rub."


     "Mmmmm."




     "So do we still get the bedroom tonight?"


     "I don't know, Don. The girls might want to all sleep 
there tonight."


     "Why? Isn't that a little weird?"


     "It's because guys can be total assholes about this," 
MJ started.


     If Don had any sense at all, he'd shut up before MJ 
smacked him.




     Gina was getting impatient with Buck. You'd think a guy 
who spent half his time planning things could figure out a 
calendar. After three years, he was still clueless.




     "Hey, Jeff. Where's Chrissie?"


     "Shhh. I've finally got all three of them asleep.
Don't jinx it."


     "So how long do you think it'll last?"


     "All night would be nice. I give it an hour."


     "Must be rough."


     "I don't really mind. It's Chrissie that's got it 
rough. I can always catch a little sleep while she's feeding 
them."


     "Don't give me that. Chrissie told me you spend half 
the night walking them."


     "I'll let you in on a secret. I like getting up in the 
middle of the night. I always have. That's when I get most 
of the ideas for my articles and all. But Chrissie never 
liked it. The Lil Bits give me an excuse. I wonder if she'll 
catch on when I'm still walking them around and they're like 
12."


     "Yeah, right. You just like being a dad."


     "You know, it's incredible. Sometimes when I'm walking 
them, I can swear they know what each other is thinking. And 
Chrissie's real tuned in, too. She knows what every cry 
means, whether they're hungry or need a diaper or just 
cranky. Sometimes I like to just watch the three of them 
together. It's... I don't know. But I wish Chris could get a 
bit more sleep. This is pretty hard on her."


     "You're a pretty cool guy. You know that?"


     "Nah. I'm just glad you and Gina are here. If it wasn't 
for you two, I think Chrissie'd be a total wreck."




     Dad had an ice pack against his head.


     "Dad, what did you do?"


     "Oh nothing. It was my fault. I said something stupid. 
You'd think after all this time I could figure out a 
calendar."




     "Hi, Dana. Haven't seen much of you lately.
Where's Derek?"


     "Hiding, if he's got half a brain in that thick head."


     "Why? What'd he do?"


     "Being a guy."


     "Gee, that bastard."




     Everything finally was cleaned up, and the guys were 
sitting on the floor in the living room. I heard the word, 
"rag," float out of their conversation a couple of times. 
Lucky for Don, I didn't hear him say it.




     "Mom, I wanted to ask you..."


     "What, honey?"


     "You think you can get something to cover up that rock? 
It's kind of embarrassing."


     "What do you mean?"


     I took Mom into the stone room and showed her.


     "Oh, dear!"




     "What is it with this thing?"


     We tried draping a sheet over it, but we couldn't get 
it to stay. We thought we had it a dozen times; but if we 
turned around, the sheet slid off. We couldn't even tie it 
in place.


     "Maybe we could get Dad to put it someplace, like in a 
big hole in the back yard."


     "Maybe we could at least put clothes on it."




     "Remember that Mrs. Kramer needs to talk to you before 
you go to bed tonight."


     "Sure, Mom. What's it about?"


     "I'm not sure, honey. But she did remind me twice."




     "Mrs. Kramer, Mom said you needed to talk with us."


     "Yes, child. Let's go somewhere private."




     "No! We won't go!"


     "I'm sorry, girls. But you really must."


     "We can't!" I shouted. "We've gotta stay here.
What if something happens? We gotta stay near Chrissie's 
kids!"


     "Nothing will happen before we get back. Trust me."


     "But it's not fair!"


     "We're not going!" Gina shouted.


     "It won't be long. Just a few months."


     "But Master Li..."


     "Li has given you girls to me. There still are things 
you must learn, and he cannot teach them. If you love those 
babies, and if you love your friends, you will come with 
me."


     "But things are just starting to be good! You can't do 
this!"


     "Yes I can, Rickie. We leave Monday morning."


     "But school..."


     "It has already been arranged with your school, Gina. 
Don't worry. You'll still graduate this year."


     "But we can't!"


     "Yes you can, Rickie. And you will. And, girls, you are 
not to say anything about this to anybody. Not to your 
parents. Not to your friends. Now, you have your weekend. I 
suggest you use it to get ready."




     "Rickie, what's wrong?"


     "Oh, MJ!"


     "Rickie! What happened?"


     "I... I can't tell you!"




     "You bastard! What the hell did you do to Rickie?!"


     MJ was kicking Don. He was trying to get out of the 
way, but she wouldn't let him up.


     "No, MJ. It's not him. Really."


     I grabbed Don and held him, but I couldn't say 
anything. All I managed to do was to cry harder.
Everybody else did a fade.




     I was not going to disappear on that note. I knew I 
probably had a couple of hours before things got messy, and 
I was determined that Don and MJ would know I loved them. I 
grabbed their arms and started to drag them upstairs.


     Gina was dragging Buck.


     "God, am I glad you two are here," Chrissie moaned from 
somewhere behind me. Damn, her timing was lousy.


     "Could you two hold these kids for a minute while I get 
adjusted?"


     "Uh, Chrissie..." I started, but then the squirts 
started crying.




     Bug was so beautiful. I wanted to just squeeze him and 
promise I wouldn't go away. It just wasn't fair! He was so 
tiny and helpless. He couldn't even hold his head up by 
himself. He never did anything to hurt anybody, and there 
were crazy people who wanted to hurt him. He needed us. We 
couldn't leave.


     Bug held onto my shirt as tight as he could. But he 
didn't cry. He just held on and stared at me and made 
gurgling noises. It was like he was trying to make me feel 
better, which made me feel a whole lot worse.


     Gina was hugging Slurp and crying silently.


     I looked at Chrissie, and she was staring at us.
She looked scared. This was so unfair. There was no way I 
could do this to them.


     Don and MJ were hovering over me, looking even more 
scared than Chrissie. Buck was on the floor next to Gina's 
chair, clutching her around the knees.




     "Bug, you mind going to your mom now? I really have to 
do something with Don and MJ. Okay?"


     Bug let go of my shirt and made another gurgling sound. 
He was such a neat kid.


     Gina and I got the squirts back to Chrissie, who was 
ready to feed them. But she just stared at us, asking us 
desperate questions with her eyes.


     I grabbed Don and MJ and started dragging them 
upstairs.




     "Why now? It's never started till just before dawn. 
This is so unfair!"


     "It's okay, Rickie," MJ tried to calm me. We were in my 
bathroom. MJ's period also had just started.
"Don can wait a few days. Nothing will fall off."


     I almost laughed, but then I started crying again.




     "I'm sorry, Mrs. Kramer. We are _not_ going to go."


     "Even if we did go," I added, we are _not_ going to 
just sneak away. We have people we have to tell, to say 
goodbye to. If we didn't, they'd be hurt and they'd worry. 
We're not going to do that without a real good reason."


     "And if I told you I had a real good reason?"


     "We'd have to decide if it was better than our reason. 
And frankly, I can't imagine any reason that'd be good 
enough."


     "Good. Your training is much further along than that 
old bastard led me to believe."




     The damned old bitch had a good reason. In fact, she 
had two.


37: When Dark Birds Fly



     "Mrs. Kramer, we are going to tell them."

     "Yes, I know you are, dear. But please wait until
Sunday to do so."

     "Sunday? But..."

     "It's important, Rickie. You must wait."

     "But..."

     "And you can tell only your family and your
friends that are here tonight. No one else."

     "But we need to tell Willie and the guys. They'll
be worried."

     "No, Gina. You may _not_ tell them. Just your
family and those friends who are here tonight. You may
not tell anyone else. And you may not tell them until
Sunday."



     The girls wanted to camp out in our room, and I
didn't want to be there. I wanted to be with Don and
MJ. But MJ wanted to stay in our room, and I couldn't
tell her why I wanted to be alone with her and Don. It
was going to be our last weekend for months, but I
promised I wouldn't tell her before Sunday.

     "C'mon, Rickie. You don't have to be with him
every minute. You're getting a little obsessive, you
know."

     "Please, MJ?"

     "I really don't feel like being around a guy
tonight. Let's just have a night with the girls. Like
those slumber parties you always used to have."

     "But..."

     "C'mon, Rickie."

     "O... okay. But let me say goodnight to Don
first."



     "That's okay, Rickie. I understand."

     "But..."

     "We'll have lots of time. One night won't kill
me. I'll miss you like all get out. But it won't kill
me."

     "But..."

     "But first I promised you a back rub."



     It was wonderful. Don sat on my hips when he
rubbed my back, which sounds like it should have been
uncomfortable but really wasn't. Don was really good
at back rubs. He had just about every muscle in my
body relaxed; and when a cramp did hit, it didn't feel
too bad. When he rubbed my lower back, the cramp faded
quickly.

     When Don decided he had finished with my back, he
moved down my legs. I didn't want him to stop rubbing
my back, but he felt great as he kneaded the muscles
on the back of my thighs and knees. Then he did my
calves. When he got to my feet, I felt like I was
floating in a dream. As good as his back rubs felt,
they were nothing compared to when he massaged my
feet. His foot massages were the most incredible
things I could think of. Well, maybe the second most
incredible; but they were a real close second.

     "That's wonderful!"

     "Thank my mom."

     "Your mom?"

     "Yeah. She's the one who taught me."

     "Well thank you, Mrs. Villanelle, both for the
wonderful massage and for the nice guy who gives
them."

     "I'd like to do this every night, Rickie."

     "I'd like that, too." Of course, I began crying
again. Don was concerned, but I told him it was just
because I was having my period.



     "So the idiot says everything should be cool for
the next few months."

     "He's back to being the idiot? What happened to
'Oh, Darling, My Love, Light of My Life'? Honeymoon
over?"

     "You know what the moron said? He told me it was
natural, so it shouldn't hurt. He said girls make too
big a thing out of it, and I was just being cranky."

     "That's better than the asshole," Gina said.

     "He's the asshole now?"

     "He made a crack about hiding out while I was 'on
the rag.' Then he made that stupid joke about the
difference between a psycho and a woman with PMS. I
could've killed him."

     "I'd like to see any of them do it," Janice said.

     "They'd be big babies about it. They'd probably
just sit around and whine and bitch the whole time."

     "I don't know," I said, a little hesitant. "Don's
really nice about it. He even gave me a really nice
back rub."

     I got hit with four pillows at once.



     "So let me try, MJ."

     "Well, if you insist."

     "Tell me if I'm doing it right. I oughta get
Don's mom to teach me. She taught Don."

     "You're doing great. Just watch those nails."

     "Sorry 'bout that."



     "I'm not sleepy."

     "No, me neither."

     "So what do you want to do?"

     "Got any popcorn?"



     "You guys go back to bed. This is our party."

     "Hey, can't we watch, too?"

     "Why don't you just find some psycho killer you
can fondle?"

     "Gina, I said I was sorry!"



     "Guys can be such jerks."

     "You'd think they'd figure it out after a while."

     "I don't know. Don's always been really
understanding. He doesn't make any nasty remarks or
anything."

     "That's 'cause PMS can't make you any worse,
Rickie."

     "That's not true! I'm not that bad, am I?"

     "Yeah? Well how about the time you hit Don on the
head with the cue ball?"

     "I thought he'd catch it."

     "His back was to you, Rickie."

     "I... I didn't throw it that hard."

     "Guess he should be thankful you don't bowl."



     "C'mon, Rickie. Don't cry. We were just teasing."

     "I've been so terrible. I... I..."

     "Hey, at least you haven't been heinous."

     "Yeah, just a bitch."

     "You aren't a bitch. You're just, uh,
demonstrative."

     "But I've been so mean to him."

     "Hey, Don can take care of himself. He's not
exactly a mouse, you know."

     "Remember when he threw you in Helen Shaker's
pool?" Gina laughed.

     "Oh god. That was so embarrassing!"

     "Well, if you're going to wear a white jersey
dress, you oughta wear a bra."

     "Specially when you got that Boom Boom LaRue
thing going," Nancy giggled.

     "I couldn't. It was a halter."

     "Yeah. And when it got wet, it was transparent,"
Gina reminded me, like I needed to be reminded.

     "It sure got some comments from the boys," Terri
said.

     "That wasn't the worst. When I ran into the
house, all of Helen's parents' friends were there. All
those middle-aged guys were even worse than the boys.
And I was dripping wet, so I couldn't run across their
carpet and upstairs to their bathroom. I had to stand
in the kitchen and wait while Mrs. Shaker got me a
towel. It was awful."

     "At least it cooled you down."

     "Yeah. I guess I deserved it."

     "Let me tell you. If Don hadn't thrown you in the
pool, we were thinking of doing it ourselves."

     "I don't even remember why I got mad at him."

     "I think it was something about Don's tie," Gina
reminded me.

     "Oh yeah. It was the tie that cheerleader slut
gave him."

     "It's not like he liked her. It was just a secret
Santa kind of thing."

     "C'mon, Nancy. She was all over him. Every time
we went somewhere, she'd just happen to bump into us.
He knew I didn't want him to wear it."

     "So you grabbed it and dipped it in the punch."

     "It made him take it off."

     "So what ever happened to that cheerleader?" MJ
asked.

     "Don't you remember? Terri and I got her."

     "Oh god, that was funny."

     "What you do?" Dana asked.

     "Terri got hold of her cheerleader pants, and we
cut all the threads from the seams. Then we glued them
together with something we got from Sparks. She did a
handstand at a football game, and they fell off."

     "She didn't even know it," Terri laughed. "She
did one of those split things, and everyone in the
stands was laughing."

     "She ran to the locker room, but I riveted her
locker shut. She had to call her mom to take her
home."

     "The guard wouldn't let her mom in the school,"
Terri said. "Probably because someone had called them
and warned that a woman matching her description was
lurking around girls' locker rooms in the area. So the
bitch had to run around the field to the parking lot,
all the time trying to cover herself with that skimpy
skirt."

     "She came up to Don and me at Limpy's Pizza, all
mad and stuff, and told him what I did. He just
laughed, so she started cursing at us. Don held up his
hand and made his fingers do a split, like she did in
that handstand. Everybody in the place started
laughing, even those sluts who were supposed to be her
friends; so she ran off real mad. Soon everyone in his
school was doing it. She finally went to another
school."

     "You guys are awful!" Janice laughed.



     "Go to bed, girls. It's late, and you have school
tomorrow."

     "Can't we skip school just one more day, Mom?"

     "No, Gina. You have missed enough school this
week."

     "So they won't miss us."

     "Bed. Now."



     "Why don't we cut school tomorrow?" I asked MJ
when we were curling up to sleep. "We can spend the
whole day together."

     "Just go to sleep, Rickie."

     "But wouldn't it be nice? We could just hang out
with nothing to do."

     "Go to sleep."



     I didn't want to go to sleep. I just wanted to
watch MJ for the rest of the night. When she was
asleep, I sat up and undid my hair. Then I spread it
over MJ and spooned against her back. I tried not to
wake her with my crying.


38: Bird of Dawning



     "Ow!" MJ was asleep on my hair, and I almost
broke my neck when I tried to sit up. I grabbed it in
the middle and pulled it slowly from under her. Maybe,
I thought, if I was really lucky, it would break off
and I'd have to get it cut. But it slid out fairly
easily, and it didn't even wake MJ.

     Gina awoke at the same time, but everyone else
was asleep. Dana was snoring.

     'It's not fair,' Gina thought.

     'I know. Just three days, and we have to waste
one of them in school.'

     'If I told Buck, I know he'd want to spend today
with me. I don't even know when I'll see him again.'

     'Let's take a shower.'



     "Want something for your hair? It could take
forever to dry it."

     "Nah. I really need to wash it. Besides, if it's
still wet, maybe I won't have to go to school."

     "Right. Mom'll just make you go to school with it
wet."

     "Cool. Then maybe it'll freeze. And I'll knock it
against something, and it'll all break off. Then I'd
have to get it cut."

     "Come on, Rickie. It's beautiful. You don't
really want to get it cut, do you?"

     "You can't believe how much I want to cut it."

     "I don't know. I think I'd kinda like it. I mean,
I know it can be a pain. But it's kinda cool, too."

     "You want it? We can stop at the old bastard's on
the way to school."

     "I don't want it that bad."



     "Oh, hot water! I'd forgotten how wonderful it
feels."

     "Don't hog it, Rickie. Here, start washing you
hair. And get out of the way."

     "So how much shampoo do you think I'll need? A
whole bottle? Two?"

     "Let me wash mine before you use it all up."



     "Jeez, you two," Janice complained. "You used all
the hot water. How long do you have to take a shower?"

     "Hey, _my_ shower was quick. It's my _hair's_
shower that took a long time."



     "I don't believe this. I'm up hours early, and
I'm still gonna be late."

     "Hush," MJ said. "It's almost dry. But I don't
think we're gonna have time to braid it."

     "Maybe we can just chop it off for now."

     "Stop whining, Rickie. Let's just use a bandanna
to keep it back. You can live with it."



     "That looks nice, Rickie. I'm glad you're getting
used to it."

     "Sure, Mom. Where are the kitchen shears?"

     "Hush. Get into the table. You're late this
morning."

     "Uh uh. I was early. It was my hair that was
late."

     "Stop whining and carry this in. And don't get
your hair in it."



     "Crepes are ready."

     "You folks sure have great breakfasts," Dana
said. "At home I'm lucky if we have cereal, and if
Billy hasn't drunk all the milk. Most of the time
breakfast is a toaster treat while I'm running out the
door."



     "I know why you like it, Mom. It's that Earth
Mother thing you've got going. It's so Naomi!"

     "Naomi?"

     "Ga, Mom. You're so Mary Martin."

     "Mary Martin?" Mom followed me into the living
room. "What does Peter Pan have to do with Naomi's
mother?"

     "See? That's just what I mean. That's why you've
got this weird thing for my hair."

     "But..."



     "We could just skip school and hang out together
all day."

     "I thought you were the one who wanted me to
study harder so we could be in college together?"

     "So you can study hard all next week, and I won't
bother you."

     "Sounds good. But my mom would find out, and
she'd tell your mom, and we'd both be grounded again."

     "Eewww. That would not be good."

     "Don't worry. We're all here after school. I'll
see you then."

     "Then we can go out tonight?"

     "Gotta work."

     "Work?! You can't!"

     "C'mon, Rickie. It's my last weekend. My shift
changes next week. I wasn't in last week, and I
promised Jose I'd be there this weekend."



     "Rickie, don't get mad."

     "I'm not mad. Well, okay. Maybe I am. But I'm not
mad at you. I mean, I am, but it isn't your fault. So
I forgive you, even though I'm still mad a little. But
I'll see you right after school, right?"

     "Sure. But does this mean you are mad at me or
you aren't?"

     I was not about to waste time being mad.



     "I'll see both of you right after school, right?"

     "Gee, Rickie. You sound like this is your last
day on Earth. We'll be here."

     "And you're not doing anything tonight, right,
MJ? We can just hang together?"

     "Calm down. I'll be here."

     "Great. Bye. Wait! Don't move! My hair!"



     "I want to see you two after class." The
headmaster had his fingers in a steeple. That was
never a good sign.



     "Sir. What's all this?"

     "I understand you two will be doing independent
study for a while. Those are the books you will read."

     "Uh, thank you, sir. But we really only need one
set."

     "That is one set, Miss Addams. I understand that
you can share."



     "You think he thinks we're supposed to be gone
for a year?"

     "It's gonna take us that long to drag these out
to the car."

     "So what is this stuff? Hey, here's that book we
got for Sparks!"

     "And a copy of that old article on the HOXD13
gene and synpolydactyly. We've already read most of
this stuff."

     "Cool. No homework."



     "Thanks again, Kyle. You guys are the best."

     "It was fun. When we gonna get to do it again?"

     "Ga! Not for a long time, I hope."

     "Bad week, huh?"

     "Real bad! No, not real bad. Parts of it were
real nice. But mostly real bad."

     "Next week's gotta be better, right?... Rickie,
what'd I say?"



     "Thought you guys weren't gonna make it to
lunch."

     "Stretch saved you some blue chicken."

     "Uh, sorry. I ate it."



     "So what happened while we were gone?"

     "Freshman are down to five circles."

     "What happened?"

     "Not sure. The seniors tried to stop them, but
the headmaster got there first."



     "Hey, Caitlin. Looks like Faith has a new victim.
Bet Cody's free."

     "Screw him."

     "You did."

     "Ga! Don't remind me!"



     "Hi, Caitlin."

     "What do _you_ want, Cody?"

     "Uh, just to say hi. And, um, I'm sorry."

     "So Faith dumped you."

     "It wasn't like that."

     "I wouldn't worry, Cody. With that little thing
you got, you should qualify for half-price from all
the rent-a-sluts."



     "I can't believe you said that!"

     "Guess you're over him, huh?"

     "I am _so_ over him."

     "Good for you."

     "You gonna eat those French fries?"

     "Caitlin!"

     "No, really. I'm really over him."

     "Uh huh."



     "Guys are such dicks!"

     "Well, _duh_."

     "You know what I mean, Gina."

     "Not all guys are so bad."

     "Right, Rickie. Go away for a few weeks over the
holidays and just see what they do behind your back."



     "Hey, I'm sorry, Rickie. What's wrong?"

     "Nothing. I'm just, you know."

     "That bum do something?"

     "No! No, he's been great. I'm just feeling, you
know."

     "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure Don's not like that."

     "You think?"

     "C'mon! Anybody who'll put up with you all this
time has got to be a saint. Right?"

     "I... I..."

     "C'mon, Rickie. Let's get you to the girls'
room."



     "So what's going on?"

     "Nothing. I'm just..."

     "Something's going on in that shaggy blond head
of yours. Out with it, girl."

     "Just... Come to my house on Sunday. Please? I
really need everybody there."

     "Sure. I'll be there."

     "And make sure everybody else comes, too. Okay?"

     "Sure."

     "Promise?"

     "Rickie! What's going on?"

     "Just come out on Sunday."

39: Close Enough to Touch



     "So you're gonna be here tomorrow morning,
right?"

     "You're not going to your workout?"

     "I'm done with that for a while. Just come over
as early as you can."

     "Sure. But my dad has something for me to do
first."

     "Tell him you'll do it next week. Please?"

     "Okay. I'll try."

     "Please?"



     "Here's a list of where everybody's gonna be
tonight and the times." Buck was planning again. "I've
got a copy for everybody. Anything happens, call.
Don't do anything by yourself."

     "Jawohl, mein commandant!" Bryan saluted.

     "This is serious, Bryan."

     "Yeah, I know. But maybe we should call here
every couple of hours to make sure everything's okay."

     "Good idea," Buck said. "Okay. I'll call at 7:00.
Bryan, you're 8:00."

     Don was supposed to call at 9:00 during his
break. I was going to be right beside that phone.



     "So what you wanna do all night?"

     "Old movies and calzones?"

     "What's a calzone?"

     "Oh, MJ! You've really gotta try some."



     "So how come you like to cook so much?"

     I had finally gotten the dough to the right
consistency and was busy kneading it.

     "I don't know. Before Mom and Dad got married, we
all had to cook just so we wouldn't be stuck with
whatever mess Dad made. Even Tom can cook some things,
though he tends to specialize in grilled cheese and
fried eggs."

     "Yeah, Rickie. But you've really gotten into it."

     I flipped the dough in some olive oil, then put
it aside to rise.

     "It's like everybody can do something except me.
Like, you can really dance. When I try, it looks like
I'm getting electric shocks."

     "You're not that bad."

     "But I'm not good." I gave MJ the mushrooms to
slice, then started looking for other cheeses to mix
with the ricotta. "And Nancy can play music better
than anyone. And Caitlin does ceramics. Pepperoni or
sausage?"

     "Do I have to choose?"

     "Nope. We'll use both. Anyway, I guess I just
wanted something I could do. You want to get the
tomato paste out of the cupboard? Get the Parmesan and
honey, too."

     "Honey?"

     "Trust me. So I found I really like this. And
everyone really likes it when I cook. You like
anchovies?"

     "Not really."

     "You'll like them tonight."

     I mixed the anchovy paste and honey with the
tomato paste, then added the cheese, water, garlic,
onion powder, oregano, marjoram, basil, salt, and
black, cayenne, and red peppers. I put it aside for a
minute and checked the dough, which wasn't close to
ready.

     "I just like the smells when I cook. And I like
the feel of everything. Except clams. There's a big
container of marinade in the fridge. Wanna get it?"

     "What's that for?"

     "I told Mom I'd make dinner tomorrow. I wanna get
the chicken started."

     "Is this the stuff you made with Mrs. Kramer?"

     "Nah. I'm making kung pao. You'll love it."

     "So this is the secret sauce. What's in it?"

     "'Sides the bourbon? Just a little oil and soy
sauce. Couple of spices."

     "How much oil?"

     "Half a galoop."

     "A what?"

     "You know, the sound oil makes when you pour it
out. Kinda like 'gal-loop.' Just stop before you get
to the loop part."

     "So what's that in tablespoons?"

     "No idea. Great, Mom already cut up the chicken.
And cooking's really easy. I mean, it always tells you
when you're doing it right. I need the glass bowl.
Some cornstarch, too."

     "So what's in here?"

     "Flatworms. Wanna see?"

     "Yuch. They don't look like worms."

     "They did a couple generations ago."

     "Why they in the fridge?"

     "They were getting too fast. Gina and I are just
trying to slow them down."

     "Blech!"

     "We got about ten minutes till the dough's ready.
Wanna pick a movie?"



     "Mmmm. These are like pizza, only better. So how
come you're not fat?"

     "I don't really eat much when I cook."

     "Yeah, I noticed that. How come?"

     "I guess it's cause I taste it while I cook. By
the time it's ready, I'm pretty full."

     "Here's the part where she opens the door."

     "I don't get it. If the bad guy really doesn't
want her to open the door, why does he make sure she
knows about it. Then, all of a sudden, he leaves it
open. If he's gonna do that, she's gonna check it
out."

     "Wouldn't be a horror movie if she didn't go
through the door."

     "Yeah. But if he didn't leave the door open, no
one would know about his plans till he was ready to
take over the world or whatever it is he's doing. If
he's supposed to be so smart, why'd he do something so
stupid as leaving the door open?"

     "Guess he's trying to trap her so he can take her
clothes off and strap her on that table. These things
are written by guys, you know. They're not particular
about how they get to the naked on the table part of
the movie."

     "Still, now she knows everything. And he's gotta
know she's gonna escape or get rescued or something.
If he was really smart, he'd just keep the door locked
and not make a big thing about it."

     "Is this one of the ones where she escapes? Or is
this one of the ones where Dudley Do-Right smashes
through the door and saves her just before the hot wax
pours on her face?"

     "I think this is one of the Dudley Do-Right
ones."

     "Too bad. Bet that weird guy falls in the boiling
wax at the end."

     "Yeah. Bet so, too."

     "Cool."



     "Can I ask you girls a favor?"

     "Sure, Jeff. What's up?"

     "Could you watch the twins for two hours? I'll
pay you real money."

     "You don't have to pay us," MJ offered. "Got a
hot date?"

     "Nothing like that. Well, I guess it is a hot
date. But it's too early for, you know. I just want
two hours to give her a back rub. Without the kids...
I mean, they're great. But I think it's time for them
to move out. You know. Get jobs, apartments. Send
money home to Dad."

     "Great, Jeff. You teach them Latin yet?"

     "That's a dead language. We're still working on
Chinese and Spanish. Latin and Greek don't come till
they're six months old. About the time they finish
statistics."



     "No, Chrissie. This is fine. In seven minutes I
get a call from Don, and I'm sure Bug'll have
something to say about that. Then I'll change his
diaper, and we'll watch a nice movie."

     "Thanks, really. What movie are you watching?"

     "I think this one's called _Theater of Blood_.

     "Oh yeah, that's the Shakespeare one. The
squirts'll love that."



     "I love you, too. And if you happen to get off
early..."

     "Rick-ie!"

     "I know. Just thought I'd give it a shot. Never
know."

     "I gotta go. My break's over."

     "Yeah. I gotta change Bug."

     "Oh. Hi, Bug! See you tomorrow!"

     "Now I really gotta change him.

     "I love you, too, Rickie."

     "I love you."



     "Well that was vomitable."

     "C'mon, MJ. Give me a break."

     "Rickie, that was so sickly sweet I'm surprised
you don't have to brush your teeth. And Regina agrees
with me. Soon as she heard that, she crapped."

     "Could've been worse."

     "Yeah? How?"

     "Could've called him 'Pooh' or something. Cute
little nicknames."

     "I'd have to kill you. Just for your own good."

     "I could come up with something like that for
you. 'Poohlet' or something. I could say all my R's
like W's. You know, 'Wickie woves you.' Even lithp a
little."

     "I'd have to kill you for _my_ own good."

     "Please. I don't think I'd want to go on living
like that. You'd be putting me out of my misery."

     "Good."

     "So doth wittle Poohlet wanna watch another
howwow moofie?"



     "Wow! Babies are so weird!"

     "Yeah. I wonder what they're thinking?"

     "Probably about f-o-o-d."

     "Don't do that. I think they're learning to
spell. I bet it's all feelings. You know? Warm and
full and close. And shapes and colors. And taste. And
smell. It just swirls around, and they're just trying
to make sense of it."

     "Form out of emptiness," MJ said.

     "What?"

     "Something Chen says I'm supposed to do. Bring
form out of emptiness."

     "Cool."

     "It's pretty hard. I haven't been able to get it
yet. But Slurp here just gave me an idea."

     "Real cool."



     "So do all those old farts say stuff like that?"

     "You mean like 'The soft wears away the hard,'
and 'In order, await the disordered,' and stuff like
that?"

     "Yeah. You'd think they'd just say what they
mean."

     "It's better than the other thing they say all
the time."

     "You mean, 'Do it again'?"



     "Boy! They're so tired."

     "And they're fighting so hard to stay awake."

     "Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the
everywhere into here. Where did you get your eyes so
blue? Out of the sky as I came through."

     "That is so neat! You know, their brains don't
slow down at all. They're dreaming just as hard as
they can."

     "They have a lot of data to process. When you
don't have any patterns to interpret information,
dreams are as good as anything for sorting through
chaotic input."

     "Rickie, you are such a geek!"

     "Of course. You knew that when you met me. All
I'm saying is maybe what they are doing is learning to
filter stuff. You know, throw away all the unimportant
information. They've got too much data. They have to
learn to ignore most of it."

     "Emptiness out of form."


40: Like Tears in Rain



     "Mary Jo?"

     "Shh. You talk too much."

     "Lemme talk."

     "Okay. What?"

     "I just... I want to ask you a favor."

     "What?"

     "If... anything should happen... If I'm not
around for any reason..."

     "Don't talk like that."

     "I know. But if anything _should_ happen, well,
would you watch out for the squirts for me?"

     "You don't even have to ask."

     "I know. But... Could you sort of, well, look out
for Don, too?"

     "Honey, he's big enough to take care of himself."

     "But just in case, please?"

     "Rickie, what's going on?"

     "Nothing. I mean, just in case."

     "Don't lie to me, girl."

     "I'm not lying."

     "Not real well, you're not. You're hiding
something, Rickie."

     "No, really."

     "Like hell you're not. Don't lie, Rickie. You're
not any good at it."

     "MJ, please?"



     "I wish you could stay."

     "So do I. But I promised my mom I'd see her at
home tonight. She's cutting her date early."

     "So how is Angie?"

     "She's a moron."

     "C'mon, MJ."

     "She is! She drools. Try to talk to her about
anything more complex than lipstick, she sits with her
mouth open and claps her hands like a seal."

     "Oh, god. I've seen her do that."

     "I've got no idea what Mom sees in her."

     "So what do you see in me?"

     "Got a point, Rickie. I guess clapping like a
seal isn't that bad."

     "MJ!"



     "You're home early, sister dear."

     "Yeah. I figured I'd wait till tomorrow night to
get grounded. Who cares if I can't go out next week."

     "Pretty clever. Just don't screw up our Sunday."



     I was downstairs early, but not as early as
Chrissie and Jeff. Gina and I made coffee and French
toast, then took the squirts so that their poor mom
and dad could get some treasured Saturday morning
sleep.



     "I want you to behave when we're not here," Gina
whispered to Slurp. "None of that screaming stuff. And
let your mom get some sleep. You hear?"

     Slurp and Bug just held on tight, even after they
filled their diapers.



     "Calm down, Rickie. He'll be here by lunch."

     "But he works tonight. And he's gonna take all
that time we could be together and waste it helping
his dad."

     "What a terrible human being."

     "But it's not fair!"



     "I can make burgers."

     "Nothing fancy, okay?"

     "Sure. Would you get me the bleu cheese?"

     "Just simple burgers."

     "These are simple. I'll just need a couple of
eggs, some onions. Could you reach that sugar on the
shelf?"



     "Gee, hi, guys. I thought all of you weren't
gonna be here till tomorrow."

     "We want to know what's going on," Gordon said.

     "Yeah, Rickie," Dana jumped in. "You and your
sister have been acting real strange."

     "Stranger than usual," Derek added.

     "You tell us," Manny said. "You tell your
friends."

     "I... We can't tell you till tomorrow. We
promised. But we'll tell you then, okay."

     "So I guess you're not gonna be out of our sight
till tomorrow," Caitlin said, and they pushed past me
into the house.



     "So I guess we're gonna need more burgers," I
told MJ. "Get out the soy sauce. I've got an idea."



     "Mom! We're out of potatoes!"

     "I'll get some more on Monday, Rickie."

     "But I was gonna make fries."

     "So use the frozen ones. We must have 20 bags
downstairs."

     "Mom, they taste like cardboard."



     "So you're finally here."

     "Sorry, Rickie. I had to help my dad. It was kind
of an emergency."

     "What's that smell?"

     "Uh, I took a shower."

     "It smells like..."

     "I'll go home and scrub harder."

     "Don't you dare. But what is that?"

     "I, uh, we had a clogged sewer line."

     "Ga! Go upstairs and use our shower. Scrub
harder!"



     "Need some more soap?"

     "Rickie!" Mom called from the hall.

     "Rats!"



     "Let that boy shower in peace," Mom said when I
ran out to the hall. "God knows he needs it. What is
that awful smell?"

     "Don and his dad had to fix their sewer."

     "Oh, dear." Mom dragged me to the other bathroom
and started pulling out those heavily perfumed soaps
no one used. "Take him a couple of these."



     "Now you smell better."

     "Gee, Rickie. I smell like I'm wearing more
perfume than you."

     "Believe me, it's better."



     "I love you."

     "Rickie, what's going on?"

     "Nothing."

     "Don't give me that. You've been acting a lot
crazier than usual. Something is going on. Tell me."

     "I can't."

     "Rickie!"

     "No. I promised. I'll tell you tomorrow morning.
Okay? I promise."

     "Rickie!"

     "No. Tomorrow. Get here as early as you can."



     Mom and Dad were in Dad's office with Mrs.
Kramer. I hoped she was telling them what was going
on. First, I really did not like keeping this from
them until the last minute. But more important, maybe
they would say that Gina and I couldn't go. Dad might
think of a way we didn't have to. He was good at stuff
like that.



     "Girls!"

     "Coming!" I took a quick look at the burgers and
set the timer. "MJ, when the buzzer goes off, put the
cheese on the burgers. As soon as it melts,
everything's ready."



     "Girls, you knew. And you didn't tell me!"

     "Mom, we really wanted to! But... Mrs. Kramer...
We promised. I'm..."

     We were crying. Even Dad had a tear, though he
was doing his best not to show it. He was mumbling
something about "things to learn" and "damned test"
and other words that didn't make it all the way to the
last syllable. Then he shut his mouth tightly. When we
jumped over and hugged him and cried, the tears began
to roll down his face.



     "Don, If anything should happen... Like, if I'm
not around, would you watch out for the squirts for
me?"

     "What's wrong, Rickie?"

     "Nothing. Nothing really. But..."

     "Rickie, tell me what's going on."

     "I can't! I promised I wouldn't tell you till
tomorrow. But we're not in trouble or anything. It's
just..."

     "Rickie!"

     "Please, Don? Wait till tomorrow?"

     "I really don't like this."

     "I know. I'm sorry. But could you..."

     "What?"

     "Well... Could you look out for MJ, too?"



     "Well, I should have known better than to ask you
two to keep a secret."

     "But we didn't tell anybody! Really!"

     "And you still managed to make sure that everyone
knew."

     "They don't know, Mrs. Kramer. We didn't tell
them anything really. We just..."

     "Yes, I know, girls. I suppose that is one of the
things we are going to have to work on. Lying is a
very important skill, you know."

     "Mrs. Kramer, we don't want to lie to anyone.
It's not fair."

     "You poor girls. I keep forgetting how impossibly
young you are. I suppose you might as well tell them
today, since they already are here."



     "But you can't!"

     "I'm sorry, Don. But we have to! I can't explain
why. Please?! It... it won't be that long."

     "Don't!"

     "I'm sorry, MJ. Please?"



     "It's time to go, girls."

     "Now?! This afternoon?! You said we didn't have
to leave till Monday!"

     "Yes, dear," Mrs. Kramer said sadly. Then, to the
room, "The girls are coming with me for a while. They
have something they _must_ learn, and I cannot teach
them here. They will be back when they are ready. It
could be quite a while." And to us, sadly, "Come now,
girls."

     "We've gotta get our stuff together."

     "You won't need anything, Gina."

     "Uh, yes, we will," I pointed out. "As a matter
of fact, we need them right now."



     "Now say goodbye, girls. And we really need to
go."

     I felt like Dorothy, crying her way up to the
Scarecrow.



     "Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the
everywhere into here. Where did you get your eyes so
blue? Out of the sky as I came through."






End of Part 3: When the Enemy Opens the Gate

End of Book One: 8 Dragons



Coming soon:

Book Two: The Songs of Ch'i


c 2001 by deMere




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